/5eg/ 5th Edition General - Half-orc Edition

Has anyone purchased DMs Guild stuff and can share, or is there an archive of the stuff somewhere? The Race Compendiums, Ravenloft Archetypes and Additional Archetypes are what I'm interested in. And to make it clear, there's 0 chance I'll buy these without seeing the crunch.

...

So what exactly is the point of lifestyles? They dont seem to actually do anything outside of drain gold.

Ravenloft Archetypes exceeds the file size and I don't feel like uploading it to megashare or somewhere, and I don't have the other thing you mentioned. But there you go, Additional Archetypes.

Now buy the other two.

dm options
handbook example is that you dont rub elbows with nobles with a cheap lifestyle, and you dont pick up seedy street contacts with a extravagant life

To take the place of normal nickel-and-diming to speed things up.

Basically: spend 2gp a day to get a decent inn room, fresh clothes, and food without having to buy them all individually.

Your character isn't a machine without needs (probably). You need to eat and sleep. Lifestyles determine the quality of food and rest you get, and the people you hang out with while doing so.

You can live on the bare minimum lifestyle if you like, but that means you're living like a dirt-poor peasant. Expect to be treated as such.

Thanks man, I appreciate it. Races are the easiest to draw inspiration from and I don't have all my races down for a setting so if it doesn't show I'm quite likely to buy those.

So basically pay for RP opportunities. Considering that this would require a significant amount of game time is the GM supposed to try to tailor each lifestyle or should players provide there own list of things like contacts or habits?

>So basically pay for RP opportunities.

And also to eat, and sleep somewhere other than a gutter. Unless that's your character's thing.

yep, its a very simple way to handle things alot (i presume most?) games ignore, actually eating/drinking day to day. sure lodging might cost and that is tracked, but eating usually isn't
lifestyles let you basically eat/drink/sleep for 12 hours of your "downtime" day in town, and do a profession for 8 more hours if you have one

True, but also 19 out of 20 GM's tend to ignore things like food unless survival is one of the main themes of the game. Which is rare outside of things like Dark Sun

What's the best way to play an artificer in 5e? I want to play a (probably going to be) Wizard who's researching ways to make enchanted weapons by the truckload and selling them to armies, becoming an arms dealer of sorts.

Enchanted weapons in this sense being essentially a shitload of Cantrip-level wands or staffs tied together with a trigger to fire them rapid-fire, essentially making him able to manufacture an equivalent to firearms and sell them to the highest bidder (Then using profits to build more destructive and more efficient weapons)

This is a doodle of what would be an early prototype of a Firebolt Gatling gun, heavy and unwieldy, difficult to aim and inaccurate when it is anyways, prone to overheating and burning out rods, but when it works you'd better watch out because it's a shitload of (literal) fire being sent downrange.

>but also 19 out of 20 GM's tend to ignore things like food
Really?
Even when I have city games, my players will talk to me about local bakers or good places to pick up fresh ingredients for breakfast or other things, even though we usually skip over such things unless an event of some kind or big discussion happens during breakfast, everyone tends to know what their character actually would eat on a typical morning.

Certainly not my experience, particularly not with 5E. If anything in 5E I think I and my fellow players have started paying *more* attention to the simple, mundane things now that magic items aren't generally salable.

Exactly this.

Boss weapons.
Weapon skills seems unnecessary unless it's something like the Unnamed King's blade calling down lightning.
Or unless you make them generic things that are just listed as "combat options" people can take instead of bound to specific weapons.

Pyromancies could be fun, as well as a take on a way to make a pyromancer that doesn't cross into sorceries.

So why is it a thing with halfbreeds that they combine the best of both races? Strength of orcs with intellect and consideration of humans, half-elves are intelligent and good-looking but less isolationist and arrogant, muls are strong and durable but not as greedy and xenophobic.

I can dig it as a setting, a world where humans are the weakest race but at the same time halfbreeds between humans and other races are always better than the non-human parent too. But as a game-wide thing it's really stupid IMO, and comes off a bit like those perfect/mary sue races.

I think it would be better to just strengthen the feat, nothing says boring like minor benefit and also a stat. I'd like feats in line with shield master, pole arm master, or dual wielded that provide fairly powerful and interesting benefits. A good model is one major combat boost, one minor boost, and a utility of some sort.

Maybe but from most games I have played even outside of D&D most people tend to not care about the day to day because for the most part it's boring and unimportant.
Plus most games of D&D characters tend to be travelers and never staying in one place for too long so there's that.

Try to find a hombrewed one. The base game of 5e is INCREDIBLY stacked against you if you want to be a mageright or artificer. There is a shitty unearthed arcana as well if you wanna give that a look

i don't think +1 to attack rolls is a terrible idea

>Otherworldly Patron: The Shadow
youtube.com/watch?v=nJjhtQiUzRY

>capra demon only cr 3
ok fuck you buddy i guess i just need to git gud

6 attacks per turn doing 1d10 fire damage each with the possibility of misfires/breakage on rolling 1's?

Sounds neat, but expensive

I think you're right, I was just be lazy in my suggestion.

Because your great great grandfather being an elf used to mean you were destined for greatness in the fantasy genre.
While having an orc further back in your bloodline meant you were going to inherit great power and a terrible curse.

Old tropes that may or may not carry over so well to the modern day.

i vote the weapon has X hp. lets say slightly above average. so 12 firebolts, 1d10 each, lets say it has 60 hp. or lets say very slightly more, 65 hp.

if it takes more than 66 damage in a round, it explodes and casts fireball centered on you. if not, hey you're good to go.

I get it for adventurers, their parents/ancestors in combination give them natural talents etc. makes sense there. But to say a race as a whole is always superior when it's a half-breed (something at best very rare in nature) is a bit stretch.

Oh, well yes, you'd be right there, but the two questions that raises are:
Why are we using PC creation rules for NPCs?
and
What settings have entire societies of half-breeds?

I was probably simply going to treat it like a narrow cone similar to how spells that create volleys of fire are treated, and enemies in front of it can make a save to avoid it's fire (with it being easier to avoid the further away they are) since it's more of a spray weapon (and also because being able to dish out that much damage at low levels would be silly) and as the game goes on they could research and improve the weapon to become more accurate/less prone to falling apart.

Giving it it's own HP is a good idea too.

The stingier the game is with piddling little +1 and +2 bonuses, the better. Bonus proliferation is the cancer that is slowly killing 3.PF; I'd just as soon not see that happen to 5e, too.

12d10 averages at 66. So the weapon would blow up even with just average rolls. I like your idea, though, but its HP should be closer to 80, 90.

i feel that but its not a game where you can stack that stuff... but i guess it opens the door to that if you start putting it on feats.
i guess its not a game where you can do that YET and i understand the fear. idk.

oh shit you're right i was thinking 10d10 for some reason i think.

Is it strong? Is it weak? Idea is to throw one of these to my players, but also let them have the option to play with a couple of corpses if they so desire.

I'm more talking about the fact that, even if the racial entry in the PHB is centered on PCs, it does describe the race as a whole, what place it has in the setting, only 1 of the four fluffy parts is about why they may be adventuring. So I'd say it applies to NPCs as well, even if the crunch doesn't. Whole societies of half-breeds are very rare, and a lot of the time it's seen as a good thing. Half-elves are travellers, open to new people and easy to socialize with. It doesn't addres potential problems, like not belonging anywhere.

How do you guys approach letting PCs storm a lair that contains lots of enemies?

What I mean is, after fighting a bunch they will likely need a long rest, or will want to try to take one. But what are the baddies up to?
Surely if they made noise they'd come interrupt them. And someone would let the big boss know?

My only ideas so far have been:
>Have some element about the place make lots of noise, so someone far away probably wouldn't hear fighting even two rooms away.
>Introduce a room that the players could easily barricade.
>Have the minions or weaker bosses say something about "no, don't get so-and-so, we'll take care of them ourselves."

Thoughts? Tips?

>not pretty good edition
You had one job, OP.

Got a half-orc in my group of PCs. Doesn't help he's a god-awful roleplayer. But he constantly swings between murderhobo and sounding like a fucking butler.

I asked what happened to his parents for backstory sake.
>My mom is dead, oh and I killed my dad! Because he was weak!
According to the timeline he gave me this means he must've killed his full-orc father at age 8 or 9.

sounds legit i dont get what the problem is

It sounds much better than it is.

I mean, how many murders are done in 1v1 combat? Killing him with poison (unlikely), or stabbing him while he's asleep are definitely possible. It does sound edgy as fuck though.

>But he constantly swings between murderhobo and sounding like a fucking butler.
isn't this what a half-orc is tho? at least 60% of the time.

half-orcs are my favorite race

>Ever played one?
Yup.
>What was it like?
Pretty much like any character.
>DMs, what is the status of half-orcs in your setting?
I do this too.
We use old-school FR as our setting so among humans they're kinda treated as potential criminals, elves treat them like mongrels, dwarves look upon them with suspicion, orcs treat them basically okay, and adventurers treat them like just one more adventurer.

>Ever played one?
Yes
>What was it like?
Fun as hell. He was a Sorcerer and the NPCs all threw shit at me because orcs are stupid.
>DMs, what is the status of half-orcs in your setting?
While not a DM, in my current game they're banned as well as all the other Half-humans.

Kill the adds quickly, then run up the stairs at the back of his boss arena, and then just keep doing plunging attacks on him until you've won. It's a really easy fight actually.

>half-humans banned

Why?

There are many reasons to not have half-breeds in a setting as far as I'm concerned. In mine, races can't have children together generally so there are none. Mechanically, I use parts or all of their features for other races that aren't in 5e yet. Call me autistic, but I'm not a fan of the trope that everyone can fuck and have a child that functions perfectly.

Would a magic/special weapon or spell that did damage with an exploding/open ended (when you roll it's highest value, you roll it again and add it) die be broken?

>free action

also half races are really lazy. imo its better to make a new race than have a half race

>Ever played one?
once, it was a premade character
for some reason, either i was the most talkative person at the table, or because i was the "leader" (the guy getting hit) i had to be the party face
it was a pretty normal guy, would be a human if not for the skin, became an adventurer to see the world, since settling down and farming is totally lame for an orc
eventually met up with some barb npc's and the character started to embrace his "orc" side

Is there any good way to make a heavy armored swordfighting illusionist? It's a pretty silly concept but still one of my favorites I've made in Skyrim

Only thing that comes to mind is
>Eldritch Knight for weapon bind, proficiencies, and fighting style
>Warlock for Disguise Self and Silent Image at will Invocations

But then the question is should I go straight Wizard the rest of the way or would doing that end with it being far too fragile to do any real frontline fighting? (Frontline not necessarily meaning face tanking since I'd be using Silent Image and other abilities to deflect attacks away from me as much as possible)

Also while I'm at it

>The object can't deal damage or otherwise
directly harm anyone.

Let's say I make an illusion sword with that ability and stab a fucker with it. Would it do damage? It's not the illusion itself doing damage, it's me wielding a weapon doing it.

Your ideas sound pretty good, until inevitably one of the casters decides to use Thunderwave. Are they 5th level or higher? If so, one of them could have Leomund's Tiny Hut, very helpful in those situations. Aside from that, just run the dungeon in a way that would make sense. Just because the bad guys knows they're there doesn't mean they will attack immediately. They might set traps, prepare ambushes, something that would signal to your players they should be more careful. And the lair should have some nooks and rooms where they could hide or barricade, surely.

no, thats the equivalent of the "im not touching you" game

you could maybe argue it would work with ranged weapons and real ammo though

OP should be ashamed.

If it can be done indefinitely, yeah, very much so. Wild Sorcerer's 18th level feature (18th level, baby!) lets his spells explode only once per turn. So basically just one extra die of damage if they roll the highest value.

For a blaster very much so. If it's limited to only certain spells/cantrips, or a pally weapon that makes smites explosive etc. then not as much.

Isn't Dark Souls a bit more...GURPS-y?

not that user but what is the right wording for that now? just say it with no free action part?

I've got one right now (playing another session tomorrow actually) that's basically a wannabe-master thief rogue. Doesn't steal stuff from people to keep or sell, mostly just to prove to himself that he can do it. Not working out great so far but he's only level 4.

Once per long rest you may gain advantage on a single attack roll

>tfw foreverDM
>tfw there never is a half-orc PC with a loving family background
>tfw no papa orc tending the farm and making the kids bounce on his knees
>tfw no loving wife serving potato-leek soup to her orc of a husband and softly kissing him on the forehead after a hard day's work
>tfw no goodbye scene with the young half-orc hugging his papa and mama before heading to the big city to become an adventurer
>tfw the only background people can find for half-orcs is "barabarian raepbaby lel hes very mad"
THAT FEEL IS NOT A GOOD FEEL

Question to both players and DMs. Monks. They have felt and remain very Wuxia. Do you have them in your games based on European-themed fantasy? Do you keep them feeling Eastern, or try to adapt them to make sense in a fantasy medieval Europe setting?

My character was dating one.
He's 3'6" and the half-orc is 7ft+

oh yeah that does sound a lot better. nice.

I once was in a game where the DM had all monks from a single organization (no players could choose monk) and the majority of the people in it were just servants or trainees or lesser apprentices. Any who trained enough or was strong enough to be considered a monk were all kind of like Bumi from Avatar: they dressed in simple robes and gave to charity and healed the sick and stuff but when it came to a fight, they were super buff and fighty underneath. It was interesting coming across them for the brief time that we did. Kind of a mix of Wuxia and European flavors.

They ended up all getting murdered by a green dragon so, oh well.

In a mideval european setting I'd want to exclude them myself. My setting is more mixed though, the monks have their own god that was basically buddha but going all over the world so only isolated societies would have no monks.

Glad I'm not the only one who was thinking it

How balanced are these archtypes?

You can make a monk feel non-wuxia by describing them as non-wuxia.

Instead of describing them as martial artists, describe them as expert boxers or fist fighters
Or just as fighters that make the most of being unarmored and lightly armed.

You don't need to change rules, you just describe stuff differently.

I'd say that, in fluff, that means they don't add anything to the game. If you like them mechanically, sure, but I think it's missing out when a class doesn't have unique fluff. It's the reason I don't like having 30 different classes and just have a few ones that all work differently in the world.

>Ever played one?
Currently playing one
>What was it like?
Well half-orcs never really come up and he was raised with orcs so he's socially ignorant about how people interact but he still has some human tendencies. Like his first instinct is to solve the problem with violence but after his rage he realizes how disgusting the blood he's cover in is.
DMs, what is the status of half-orcs in your setting?
For the character above, I pretty wrote how his clan perceived half-orcs. They weren't uncommon because orcs do sometimes give unwanted pregnancies and one Gruumsh's things is to spread orc blood around so they tolerate them. The majority of the clan wasn't fond of my character's family for a multitude of reasons. Character's father is considered weak because he's a fisherman instead of being a warrior,his mother is human and isn't a captive, his older brother much like his father isn't much of a fighter, and then my character liked butting heads with important people.

*with these weapons

I know how I'm gonna play my half-orc if I ever do.
Thanks, user.

it warms my heart
thanks to you

Thanks. And yeah, my players are kinda dumb. They're still trying to transition out of the video-game mindset.
One of them literally cast thunderwave and wondered why there was an ambush waiting for them. They also regularly break down doors and stuff.

monks punch people for a living and are supernaturally awesome. they don't have to run around in orange robes and call people sempai.

What are some good low-level encounters (1-3 at most) that can happen on a boat?
There are a lot of cool giant sea monsters but to my knowledge they're all mid to high level.

>sempai
I said "Wuxia" not "Animu"

What are some good 1st to 4th level spells to support your front line fighters with? Assume any spell list

HASTE
A
S
T
E

Yeah, you do. Sorry.

He said his dad was weak though.
You don't kill someone because they're weak in a cowardly way, you fight them to prove you're better.

This.
Monks are basically super heroes. When I see batman, I don't think "pfft, fucking weeb." Some might, but that's on them, and I think they're the minority.
Monks can be played just fine in a european setting. DMs that outright ban them are shit DMs.

Yeah, Haste is a given, but what else? Healing word also gets 0 HP people off of the ground long enough to escape. What else?

>literally 2 half breed races, 3 if you count tieflings
lel
You'd probably appreciate this guy though

I think it only works for a silly/non-serious game desu. With knights, powerful wizards and stuff, having people that just don't need armor and don't have magical powers is very weird.

Ki is explicitly a type of magical energy.

...

Make it a baby-version of one of the giant monsters. Just nerf its HP, AC, and DPR to the level you need it to be.

Pirates are also a good option. Have some gerblins trying to sink your boat. Maybe even make it so your boat does sink so you have to kill the goblins and take their ship.
Then on approaching a city you are stopped by a navy vessel for being in a known pirate ship or something. That'd be fun. Start it off as a misunderstanding the players have to talk their way through, then end up getting a reward for taking down these troublesome goblins. And maybe the ship was stolen from the navy and by returning it you get even more benefits.

Ship encounters are fucking fun.