/5eg/ D&D 5e General

Fresh DM here, with a question to other DM's: how do you deal with a PC that dumped INT but their roleplaying doesn't reflect that?
Like I understand the PC wouldn't be retarded but it's grinding my gears that the only member of the group with 8 INT is the one coming up with plans and schemes that are well thought out and meticulous.

Need some opinions on this campaign idea. The dwarf king's hold has come under siege by a dragon. Due to their defenses they can hold out for sometime, but it's still a dragon. A call for aid and conscription has been put out his kingdom, and the players being citizens have chosen to answer the call.

The bulk of the campaign will be travelling to the king's beseiged hold, as well as dispensing justice along the way as member's of the king's army. A lot of nobles have either left with their forces to help the king, or used the chance to rebel or settle old grudges. Trying to think of things to keep it interesting beyond random encounter/town needs help/people crying for aid on the side of the road.

magic initiate feat?

You make his plans go wrong through fundamentally changing the setup, then explain that his character didn't understand what was going on when you described it earlier
Also make sure the Bard player stays in key when he's singing or his spells will fail, and if the barbarian player isn't literally red with anger when his character is in a fight, don't give him bonus damage
Make sure the ranger player's giant badger doesn't shit on the floor, too

Talk to your player. If you can't reach a compromise and it really bugs you that much, don't play with him.

The question is, is he doing this planning OOC talk to the players as players or is he going out of his way in-character to form this shit?

But if you feel he's breaking character, try, as a DM, to deal with it within reason. Try to increase DC to the rolls that have this plan so it will reflect to the party with reactions like "See? You planned this and now look!!" making his character appear dumb like he should.

If he makes tactics and strats for a battle like flanking a goblin raid by going around underneath a brush of trees, say there were 5-6 bugbears in there.

>drow rogue
>lawful evil
It's possible to do a lawful drow or a lawful rogue, but I'm somewhat seriously doubtful they're doing it right.

Book smarts doesn't necessarily mean wisdom or tactical planning expertise. The character can study every detail of a spell but he might not have any interest in formations or tactics, thinking instead that the right spell would solve every problem. The barbarian however has enough experience with fighting that he sees the importance. Don't worry about your players numbers. Numbers aren't rp.

What are your dragons like? Mindless, vicious beasts or magnificent schemers?

If it's the latter, there could be cultists or what-have-you that have sworn their allegiance to the dragon -- they attack internally and with subterfuge while the dragon is running rampant on the outside.

What sort of bargain could a dragon and a bunch of cutthroat turncoats have made?
Maybe in the king's hold is a long forgotten artifact that the cultists know about -- while the dragon's rainin' down fire and brimstone, they want to swipe it. And maybe their intentions are to betray the dragon? And maybe the dragon is keen onto the idea of betraying the cultists and flying off with the artifact.

Thanks, I didn't consider looking into feats. I'll try those!

I would absolutely advise against making the barbarians plans turn out retarded because "reasons."

It gives him little incentive to do it any more, because the DM will shit on it because it doesn't reflect his character. The player with the high int probably doesn't like to make plans, not having one of those in the group makes the whole experience worse. Fun>Realism

What is the ACTUAL difference between Intelligence and Wisdom in D&D 5e?

If Intelligence is "book smarts" while Wisdom is "street smarts," then why is Investigation based on Intelligence?

Investigation is all about piecing together environmental clues into useful information and being canny enough to beat illusions (which specifically go against Investigation). That sounds much more like "street smarts" than "book smarts."

Honestly, 'not being a fucking retard' is the only reason to have int most of the time in 5e.

Barbarians drop it like a black baby from their white wife.

Just refer your player to the first chapter of 5e where it explains how each attribute is likely to affect their character.
It's fine for them to scheme, but they should portray their schemes in-character and maybe willingly fuck up a plan for the sake of character. Not completely, but it's the minor details to make a good plan seem like dumb blind luck from an 8 int guy.

Intelligence is memorization, pattern recognition, knowing how things go together.

Wisdom is knowing the best way to do something, and knowing the most likely path things will take in terms of human, animal, and environmental behaviors.

Now that you mention it, yeah, my suggestion was rather dickery. I take back my statement then on the 5-6 bugbears. It is true, a barbarian without booksmarts can still provide the tactics and shit.

To be honest there are some things from wisdom that should be int and some things from in that should be wisdom.

There's a variant rule that says the DM may call for skills to be used under different stats.
Say, Medicine (int) for identifying a medicine.

Wisdom is pretty much 'awareness.'
Intellect is pretty much 'memory and brainpower.'

What I usually see in PC's that have dumped intelligence is that they are brash and quick to go from 0 to 10 when shit hits the fan.
And the PC with 16 intelligence keeps his shit together and remains rational (and usually irritated).

Here we are. This is what 5e provides about it.

A low int character could still come up with a plan, but they're liable to forget details or forget to include a back-up plan for certain situations. They might also miscommunicate if their int is really low.

I still find it strange that Medicine is under WIS.

But if a player wanted to make a 'doctor' character and had boosted int, I'd let him make Medicine checks keying off of int.

I just put a second fighter in my binder. My binder which contains at least one of each class. Mapped for play at levels 1-3.

God damn I want to play instead of DM once in a while.

it feels a bit wrong, but iv always viewed wisdom as common sense, rather than street smarts
int knows what kind of breath element a dragon has, wis knows to stand behind it and never find out

I'd think that should really tie in more with wisdom.

A wise man knows to keep his cool and is aware of what's happening, not confused and angered.

Int helps contribute to 'calm and calculated' though.

It's just that it tends to be the rash 'I like to hit things' characters that dump int.

Is there any way for a first level gnome fighter to get a spell or a cantrip without begging the DM for a feat?

>DM for my friends who are newbies
>see the look of excitement when me, the DM, encourages on creative play instead of treating it like a video game where things are shackled to a program's limitation
>see them gather around the table and talk excitedly how to fool the evil mage to give him the spellbook he stole
>keep asking excitedly the details of the area they are at
>they discuss what items, skills, spells they have in the party's disposal
>all this excitement and thrill
>I'll never get that

At least I have the thrill of a DM but god dammit, I want to play too

>staying in character is more important than playing the game

Who are you people?

>A character with high Wisdom has good judgment, empathy, and a general awareness of what's going on.

Then why are Wisdom and Perception totally irrelevant against illusions?

Yes.
Forest gnomes get minor illusion.

Otherwise
>specific race
>specific class
>lowest level
>expecting to have a lot of choice when you've already made most of the choices
You don't get spells and such from backgrounds.

Part of the game is about having a character.
If you break character just to show your plan, that's no fun.
The fun happens when your retarded character tries to convey this plan to the party.

Stay strong user. Maybe someday.

Probably not, but hey... maybe.

>I just need to tell them to flank the enemy
>Okay you can do this
Uhhh
Hit the focking cowards where the sun don' shine! YEAAAAAAAHHHH
>The barbarian charges off, leaving the party extremely confused.

Because some fucktarded wizard thought investigation should be an int skill.

I know int needs more love, but fuck.

Oh yeah, forest gnomes. Derp.

I made this character to be an EK, and prefer my EKs to not just spontaneously erupt spells at 3rd level. So I usually try to make sure the character has at least something magical from level one.

My mistake this time was skipping over forest gnome for a bonus to Con and a tiny robot birb. I'll probably just switch to Forest.

That's about an int 6 or maybe even 7 response.

Int 8 would be more like 'You guiz get 'round the behinds and give'em a big ol' spook, yeah? Okay let's do this. LEEEEEEROOOOOOOOOOOOOOY'

The fun happens when the plan goes horribly awry, usually. Grunting at people in character is fine and all, but dumb PC plans is totally the best part of the game for me.

If it's a dumb plan, that's perfect for a dumb character.

If it's not a dumb plan, it could quickly become dumb once things go awry because the dumb barbarian doesn't havea back-up plan.

Int has been the 'proof against illusions' stat since AD&D.

>Those with the immunity notice some inconsistency or inexactness in the illusion or phantasm, automatically allowing them to make their saving throws.
Then again, back in AD&D you only started getting illusion immunity at INT 19.

"Muh tradition" is always the worst design philosophy.

Sorry I should have said, "dumb PC plans" was meant to refer to all PC plans.

Stuff like dressing up as the goblin's grandmother to distract him while your friends sneak past to steal the mcguffin.

bit of a mix, people who go lawful autistic or chaotic murder hobo tend to ruin games

also had a lot of "well my character is stupid so I do it anyways" excuses from players who do it to fuck over the party repetitively, even when we warn their characters to stop it

>int is useless outside of some wizard classes
>party never has any wizards
>we get trapped on plot points because we keep failing int checks
it's funny for a while but we started not investigating because we were getting frequent low rolls. our dm had to scale back the challenge checks.

I get over it by making characters for my players in case they're too lazy to make new ones.

Spot/Perception should never have been a Wisdom skill in the first place.

No reason a dumb person couldn't suggest that

However, in character and out, it might be better to let others then contribute to your plan.

You come up with a dumb 'I'm going to dress up as a grandmother!', and then the smarter characters actually find it a good idea and help you with, say, magic or a disguise kit.

ooh im into that
whens it out?
also whats the prospective price point, i feel guilty about DLing pdfs of PHG MM and DMG but i dont have $60 to drop on books

i mean, what else would they be?
Is it int, cause you know what to look for, or because you think about things faster?

It will be $50 and be out in stores November 15

>bunch of dumb characters have a dumb plan
>it has a 0% chance of succeeding due to obvious things (enemy is intelligent)
>explain why it won't work, and explain a better plan that will keep us safe
>they ignore me and do it anyways
>near party wipe
dumb characters and players a shit

Just get rid of them. They're basically just a slightly more passive version of Search/Investigation anyway.

Stay in character instead of playing the game, got it.

You can stay in character and play the game, user.

What are the best Adventurer's League modules/seasons?

>$50
hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm
maybesomeonwillscanit

Someone will. It's like the SCAG, I'll not get it. I'll buy core books and adventures though since I like being able to grab them and flip straight to the page I need and the feeling of the books in hand just can't be beat

Just got done with a session of Curse of Strahd where the party executed a party member for betraying them, and then the cleric animated the corpse as a zombie to continue serving her. The player had already moved on to a new character at that point, and didn't know it was coming.

Anyone have any recommend low level "boss" type things to throw at my party of 3-4 level 3s? Been toying around with using a sightly nerfed green hag.

A troll with a few levels in warlock or wizard.

A flameskull no longer bound by orders and with delusions of lichdom. Give it a few skeletons that it thinks it can teach magic.

Infinite skeletons in a narrow hallway and a clear trap that will send a boulder falling behind the party, and towards the skeletons.

This, I can attest to how dangerous Flameskulls are! So bad, so bad...

Intelligence is knowing the details of a scenario, such as "ok, there's a dragon, it breathes fire and it'll kill us all".
Wisdom is deciding to hide or run away.

All right then a Troll apprentice to a flameskull it is. Thanks, anons.

Does anyone have a scan of the PotA DM screen?

Literally all of the info can be found in the book. All they do is take some the random encounter table, the main map, conditions and added some images of genasi, the elemental lords and a manticore. Just print out the random encounter table and map and go from there.

It's cool user don't feel bad, you should still be able to enjoy the game. I buy fucking everything ever released because I'm a sucker, and there seems to be plenty of suckers out there to keep them afloat.

I haven't played D&D in two years or more, only DMed dozens of sessions. My cousin sometimes GMs stuff like Paranoia or Traveller, that's fun but doesn't really scratch the itch.

You know whats the best class 5eg? Oath of Ancient Paladin. Sure the channel divinity sucks and you dont have the best spells but misty step is worth it.
Imagine chasing the BBEG up the stairs. Imagine he is to far away. Imaging using Misty Step to teleport in a straight line just behind him. Cue crit, with Vicious Longsword, and smite on top. Insta death.
tfw *unsheates longsword**teleports behind him* Nothing personal kid

Does anyone have a copy of the planar bestiary they could share?

dmsguild.com/product/193100/Planar-Bestiary

That's retarded.

I gotta say, I sorta don't give a fuck about it unless actual checks are involved. I find it fun and actually one of the most rewarding things in D&D, coming up with interesting stuff despire your character's mechanical shortcomings. Yes, roleplaying it in a way that suits your Int score is also fun and can spice things up, but the verisimilitude aspect of it doesn't concern me as much. Obviously it's easier to understand when intelligent or quick-witted player plays an intelligent or quick-witted character but generally I'm not gimping player's creativity just because he wants to fight things in melee instead of managing spells.

Curse of Strahd is considered one of the better adventure modules.
>by Chris Perkins.
>as expected.

Well call me retarded because thats what I did last session. 22 slashing + 24 radiant right after the ranger had managed to land 2 strikes with hunter's mark shenanigans.

Then you might as well be vengeance as they get misty step too

Wisdom isn't any kind of smarts, it's perceptive ability and acts as a standin for spiritual strength because all aspects of humanity must be fit into six ability scores.
Intelligence is how smart you are, wisdom is your eyes and ears.

If Wisdom is your eyes and ears, then why does it do nothing against illusions?

I am pretty new to D&D, are there like known designers of adventures in D&D history? Back then and current?

I scratched the surface when doing my research and saw names like the Hickmans, Monte Cook, and of course the one and only Gygax.

>bunch of dumb characters have a dumb plan
>it has a 0% chance of succeeding due to obvious things (enemy is intelligent)
>explain why it won't work, and explain a better plan that will keep us safe
>they ignore me and do it anyways
>their godly rolls carry them through with next to no injury
Every time. The stupider their plan the better it goes.

tradition, we've already been over this

Magic goes straight into your brain
You aren't actually seeing or hearing anything senpai

It's probably important to note that prior to 3e, Wisdom didn't actually control 'awareness of your surroundings', so it's only a WotC tradition.

Paul (Jennell) Jaquays: thealexandrian.net/wordpress/13085/roleplaying-games/jaquaying-the-dungeon
And Judge's Guild stuff in general. Very influential.

>Magic goes straight into your brain

Except it doesn't, because it's not a saving throw or anything.

That's how it goes for me
>Friend comes up with great plan
>It all goes to shit because of monsters not doing what we expected
>Rolls are middle to terrible
>a player gets KO'd

>Do my own dumbass plan of running at the enemies to kill them to death
>Everyone's rolls become great to upper middle
>Everything falls into place perfectly

Are the wizards forums not a thing anymore?

Are there rules for sailing and traveling by sea? I thought I remembered seeing something about them but I can't remember if it was in the PHB or the DMG.

Never mind, I found it in the DMG

Wisdom is a thing too. A low intelligence character with decent or even high wisdom is still capable of making a plan. It would be based on intuition and common sense instead of observation of facts and connecting them.

Would sieges in a typical 5e games be considerably quicker than real world sieges? I could see it working 1 of 2 ways. Magic can't penetrate the walls and the defenders can essentially sit there forever with create food and water spells, or magic can break the walls and sieges end rather quickly.

People seem to forget 10 is average. Most D&D players seem to think in the real world they're at least 16 intelligence.

How do you deal with +1 weapons and armor? Do you pick a weapon off one of the tables randomly? Or do you tailor it to a specific character?

What are good single target save or suck spells for a wizard?

Intelligence is all about that education, memorizing skills, and ability to crack codes and shit. Its got nothing to do with wether or not the guy is a retard.

Like, think Tormund Giantbane. He had ramsay snow down within seconds of meeting him and was a bloody well measure smarter than John Snow and hos strategies