/5eg/ D&D Fifth Edition General: Heartwarming Edition

It's always great when players have that breakthrough where they realize their character can be more than a miniature/pawn/chit that is "doing stuff".

since when are dwarves that short?

don't worry about it, it's a shit post.
Hill dwarves are a minimum of 3' 10"
Gnomes max at 3' 7"

Manlet detected!!! How can dwarves even compete!!!!??

Our party has a lot of PC interaction, especially since our resident half-orc fighter insists on maintaining his idiot personality despite his character having higher intelligence than the rest of the group whenever he does stuff

just finished running the lvl 1-3 beginning section of that. knocked 1 play out with the first encounter, killed the other 3 with the third. its brutal.

My party has essentially been babysitting two Kobold clerics for two sessions.

I think they've both survived enough shit to get player character levels. However, I really don't want to make them DMPCs, especially since there's two of them.

Is the best way to avoid this to have them both just leave the party quickly?

Just give them the stats of an Acolyte (MM appendix) and call it good. Maybe someday if they stay in the party they'll upgrade to Priest.

Does the player let the smarts shine through here and there?

Have them be camp followers for the PCs.

They watch the horses when the PCs go into a dungeon. They help cook the dinner. That kind of thing. They can have acolyte/priest stats, but they will only come up if the PCs are attacked in their camp, or while traveling.

My setting is high-magic, so the PCs have floating motorcycles, not horses. This lead to the amusing visual of a Tiefling with leather armor riding a Harley through a forest, so I think it was worth it.

Then again, somebody needs to make sure the bikes don't get scratched.

Nope, he plays him straight dumb 24/7 Although he did end up becoming a politian/ruler of the orc tribe whose leader we ambushed and killed. It's less a case of he has high intelligence and more of a case that his lowest roll is higher than our lowest roll

I have no experience with the adventure path, so I'm no help there.

Music, on the other hand, is my forté hyuck hyuck. I never run games without music, to the point where I barely can when I don't have it occupying silences.

To that end, certain selections from Midnight Syndicate, the soundtrack to the Resident Evil remake for the Gamecube, Resident Evil 4, 5, and 6, and parts of the Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem soundtrack, would be good places to start.

The Scarlet Monastery and Scholomance tracks from World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria are also pretty ambient, and from that same game, Icecrown Citadel and Naxxramas, along with Tirisfal Glades, the Undercity, and Felwood are all pretty nice as well.

I'll search through my library and see if anything else comes up. There's also-

tabletopaudio.com/

If you are looking for ambient sounds to go along with it.

Hope any of this helps.

So have the NPCs be on the lookout to prevent thieves from taking their motorcycles.

They also let you have larger, more dramatic encounters with bandit groups that are still fair by CR rules, since you're adding a couple of low-level PCs to the PC side in some encounters.

>Is it as deliciously dangerous as it seems to be?
It can be fairly dangerous, especially if you play some of the things straight and brutal. They can come in contact with things resistant to nonmagical weapons before they get any, and in sizable portions, meaning martials are going to have a hard time cleaving shit down without getting wrecked.

>How would you classify "occupants" for keeping vamps out or letting vamps in? Rightful residents? Current squatters? Anyone in the house at the time, guest or homeowner?
Occupants would likely be anyone in it at the time.

>Know of any good music I can spoop my players with?
Darkest Dungeon's OST is all on Soundcloud. The Souls games (Demons' Souls, Dark Souls 1-3, and Bloodborne) all have great horror-themed sound tracks for ambiance, fights, and they even have a few pleasant, peaceful ones for towns and downtime.

I hope yours isn't as bad as ours.

Anime girl waifubait who acts crazy and stupid all the time even in fights, by neckbeard-kun.

I am a first time GM soon, and I have trouble u understanding the DC. Do I just make it up? The book says I so, but what do I base it off of?

Also I don't understand why The health rules have to be so complex, or what hit die are.

It's mostly fine. He at worst plays his character sub-optimally rather than doing stuff that's group suicidal, and his dumb antics are always fun, although the rate he manages to be successful with his rolls for them is much to the chagrin of the DM.

There's one time his player rolled a 1 on a check to search the city which started a whole side quest of him getting kidnapped by a group of smugglers luring the dumber orcs/half-orcs of the city into labor camps

Check the DMG (pg. 238) for advice on setting DCs.

The rules for hit points aren't difficult. Hit dice are a resource used to heal on short rests, and that's all they're used for. Check PHB pg. 186 (Resting section) for pretty much all the rules covering them.

Hit die are basically just the hit points you get each level, rolled separately as healing during downtime.

For DCs it's probably best to go by fives categorize them according to how impressive the task is. DC 10 is something anyone can commonly do, DC 30 is outstandingly epic feats. Scale along there and it should be fine.

But always remember if something is too easy or too hard, there shouldn't really be a roll.

Also, although skill checks aren't meant to crit fail or succeed, I like to add a little something extra when it swings hard either direction if the situation merits it.

Thank you senors

As I recall they recomend that the DC should be;
For an very easy task - DC should be 5
For an easy one - 10
For a average task - 15
A hard task- 20
A very hard task - 25
Near imposible task - 30

Just ask yourself what the task they are doing fits in to.

Post your character sheets and describe your character in a sentence, I'm curious.

As a new player I find it much easier to RP with NPCs than with other people in my group. I think it's because our DM is more comfortable and willing to commit to RP than the other people in the group, since they're new too. There's a certain vulnerability in RPing, especially to people when you're not sure if they're taking RP/the game as seriously as you are. And I love joking around and not really taking it super seriously, but there's definitely that subtle barrier to RP which manifests itself in that.

Well put. Players know that (a good) DM is fully committed to the seriousness of the game. And newbies are certainly more comfortable role playing against the DM's NPCs, particularly if the other players are fairly new to each other.

I might do it in a while. But I can't right now.

Healer by trade travelling to find a new home for her family but has realized that she would much rather keep moving than settle down when she finds it.
I use a paper sheet and I'm too lazy to take a photo.

She lived her life as a cleric until the head priest came to her and gave her a secret book and was told to keep it safe from everyone, including herself.

myth-weavers.com/sheet.html#id=856384

Hey, how does this look for a 5th level spell?

An oily black smoke rolls out of nowhere, obscuring sight and sound. It leaves a distasteful residue on everything within, and the scent is one of open sewers and putrefied flesh. Create 20 ft radius sphere of Darkness. Any creatures starting their turn within or entering the area must make constitution save or spend their action retching and reeling for that turn. Creatures that succeed their save are poisoned instead. They can attempt a new save when they start their turn outside of spell’s area to be rid of the poisoned condition. Creatures that fail their constitution save three times are incapacitated for the duration of the spell. Furthermore all sound within the sphere is blocked as per the spell Silence.

thoughts?

It doesn't make sense that the once failing the save DON'T get poisond but the once how succeeds do.
Otherwise I like it.

oh shit youre right. herp derp.

not sure if they should be poisoned no matter what or poisoned on a failed save..

Better to allow a save. Not like poisoning alone is all that consequential, anyway.

Also, you should add that anything immune to poison or doesn't breathe should be immune to the spell.

Except to the darkness, obviously.

Guys I fucked up bad how do I break a contract with a demon help....pls....

We'd need details on the deal and the setting. But generally, you could offer it a better deal, doing it some favor or procuring something of value to it.

Is this better than Dungeon World for first time players? Dungeon world seems alright in theory, but upon actually reading the rules it seems too open ended, yet strict in the wrong places (bonds)

please explain why a lawful good individual doesn't need to be a fucking goody two shoes, because people don't believe me when I say a crusader can be lawful good

I posted this in another thread too, but I think discussion is a good thing, so I'm posting it here too

The Pugilist from the DM's Guild got endorsed in the recent issue of Dragon+ so is added to the list.
They also have a code (DMG001BFTU) to get the Battle for the Undercity adventure for free, but I think it is also in the mega.

Best answer is that having an alignment doesn't mean you're the most extreme example of the alignment. Give the reasons you have for being good and lawful, and act accordingly.

Shadowcaster guy here again.

homebrewery.naturalcrit.com/share/BkaciQ1L

updated the spell lists a bit and added a few more mysteries. Can someone provide feedback, possible broken spells or features, underpowered spells or features, or horrible typos I missed?

Your formatting is exploded.

doesnt work on firefox, only works in chrome.

Been playing in store for a few months now. It is deadly and dangerous and we've only survived some really stilted ecounters by means of being clever and lucky.

And then there was the time we were NOT clever in Valaki...

heres the pdf.

What exactly is in each issue of Dragon+, I'm stuck with a first gen Iphone 4 and I've never been able to successfully run the app and WoTC support at the time said I couldn't read it with a web browser.

My DM hasn't given us a plot. He's left little nudges and mysteries along our path, but has given us practically free reign on where we want to go and what we want to do. The party is setting the goals, and as far as we know, there's no BBEG yet.

In this regard, is he a good or bad DM?

Are you enjoying yourselves? Same answer

Bonds are better than you think, lots of first time players freeze up when you ask them to think for themselves instead of picking an option from a list.

I got this free from the DM's Guild with a promo code from the latest Dragon+ magazine.

There are also two adventures from the latest Acquisitions Inc PAX whatever event for free on the DM's guild, I'll post those too for anyone interested.

How Not to Host a Murder - murder mystery set in a wizard's mansion

I.S.T.A.R. Facilities - fix a Zhentarim training facility.

Kind of lame that so much stuff on the DM's Guild is set in the Forgotten Realms.

Several builds I've been contemplating that I'd like guidance on:

Battlemage. Eldritch knight is obviously there to fill that niche, but I'd like them to take battle master's maneuvers to reflect their mastery of martial combat. So in the context that I want battle master is the only other way to take 2-3 levels of wizard?

Punch-Wizard. Same thing, but with unarmed/grappling as the prominent form of melee. Assume also, with battle mage, I'm more interested in the mystical/arcane magic stuff over icewalls and lightning bolts.

A gruff/tough/armored grappler. Obviously monks excel at unarmed combat, but I'm more thinking like a gruff brawler. Would a str-based monk just be the best way to go regardless? Like super strong, super dexterous, but not very wise or cunning; wearing armor and punching shit as hard as possible to make up for it. Human with the free feat makes it work by 12, and the three +1s to your STR mean you could secure at least 18 STR if you wanted to go with monk, but could it work at least as well any other way?

*before
Humans can make it work before 12; assuming you've got feats in the campaign.

Several ways to do your first one, feel free to experiment.

For number two, sounds like you might want to look into a grapple-Bard build.

Third one sounds like a good Battlerager so you can pick up spiked armor.

> Battlerager
Well, maybe, but more so I'm thinking like a stern, strong-silent-type of character, rather than an aggressive/angry lashing-out type of situation. Like, his shit's all skill-based, but instead of being quick and flippy he's like a rock that reacts/slams out slow but devastating blows.

There's no point in being a monk that wears armor, you just loose out on too much. You would literally have to homebrew to make that work.

I suggest either a barbarian or a battlemaster that leaves a hand free for grapples.

You can refluff the name and nature of the Barbarian's mechanics to suit your needs. You can be a stoic Barbarian if you want.

How would you guys create a swordsage in 5e? would it require a homebrew? I was thinking a warlock archetype and custom spell list. Would that work?

What exactly do you want out of a "swordsage" character?

>swordsage
DEX-based battle master.

Well, I really liked all the maneuvers they had. Being able to cast 'spells' as attacks was also a highlight of the class for me. After that, being partially monk-like because of no need for armor. I never got to prestige into the vampire shadowlord prestige class but that would be cool too.

Martial Arts is the only thing I'd miss really. I could probably get a DM to let me keep those by willingly forgoing Unarmored Movement or something, but I'd like to get as close to my intents as possible without having to houerule it.

bump for feedback

Hey guys, what modules feature Never winter or the regions around it?

>warcaster
>allies run past you
>use your reactions to cast healing/buff spells

Allies do not qualify as 'hostile creatures'.

Beat me to it.

They're probably hostile if the party is in combat.

But in all seriousness, I don't think that WotC considered the notion of casting buffs when they wrote this feat. Would /5eg/ DMs allow an amendment to the feat to permit casting on allies?

A surprisingly intelligence Human Totem Barbarian raised by talking animals (Result of Wizardry) who is trying to raise an animal army, give them great intelligence and make his own kingdom.

> allies provoke attacks of opportunity
sure, of course

Hostile means hostile to YOU.

allies do not count as hostiles, nor do they provoke attacks of opportunity from you; ever.

Play a shadow sorcerer and stop making edgy shadowninjaassassin character classes that aren't needed.

even if you wanted to argue that 'hostile creatures' is transitive, your allies don't provoke attacks of opportunity from you

Isn't the concept of "Ally" and "Enemy" deliberately left completely undefined?

Sounds like a "I want to do everything cool all at once" character mess.
Just stick with 3.5 or something.

I have a Sword Monk in the game I am running, it really didn't take too much tinkering to create and isn't unbalanced. That's what a Swordsage is to me.

What you want is "Le Spell Slinging Swordsman" that apparently appeals to lots of people of a "certain age", given the sheer amount of character art for them online.

DEX Eldrich Knight and use the SCAG Cantrips for most attacks?

A for effort, not really needed though. You could easily build that off of a warlock or sorcerer.

Technically neither the text for Warcaster nor Opportunity Attack specifies to whom the creature must be hostile, just that the creature must be hostile.

Sure, if you want to be obtuse about it, but in that case I'll force party members to make AoOs and hostile actions at your character.

After all, the are 'hostile creatures'!

Don't forget that level 20 Monks can initiate combat with a passing horse to get free ki points!

0/10 apply yourself

No, it's left undefined because the entire book is written in second person; addressing the reader, meaning both "allies" and "enemies" both always refer to the reader's allies/enemies.
Please work on your reading comprehension and stop reaching for loop holes.

yeah, i think that would work. spell list kinda sucks though.

Yeah, pretty much. Its hella edgy i know. >.>

I feel like its difficult to get a gish character without going paladin sorcerer.

Didn't 3.PF have the old keen vorpal scimitar with a bag of rats gimmick too? Every edition has been kind of stupid.

What about a Bladesinger Wizard? You could take defensive spells, Touch Attacks and you would have fine AC while Blade Singing unarmored.

>That player whom can't keep from roleplaying an antagonistic shitlord that has to be up in everybody's face about being anti-[everything]

Just do the battlemage thing for Wizard. SCAG I believe it's in.

I tried that, neither really got the feel of it. Hard to make a stealthy mage.
>inb4 invisibility herp derp

>arent needed
why not? The class casts without somatic components on all spells and has a different kind of spell progression. surely thats different enough from the base classes to give it some merit.