/5eg/ D&D Fifth Edition General: Snek People Edition

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Tell me your yuan-ti stories, /5eg/.

Other urls found in this thread:

middlefingerofvecna.com/2016/11/circle-of-scale.html
homebrewery.naturalcrit.com/share/BkaciQ1L
homebrewery.naturalcrit.com/share/HkliWE2-x
twitter.com/SFWRedditVideos

Moon Druid seems kind of boring to me. How unbalanced would it be to be able to turn into monstrosities or dragons or something instead?

Considering that would open moon druids up to even more grapple/restrain add-ons, petrification, unnatural poisons, ranged attacks, AoEs, and other abilities: very. Anything outside of beasts is going to need a very constrained set of guidelines, or specified stat blocks they can achieve.

>Moon Druid seems kind of boring to me.
>he thinks giant scorpions are boring

Too many for one concept. They would've had to refluff the whole class as all being aligned with a particular element.

Could've made for neat splat archetypes, though, because they'd have to branch beyond the usual four.

A better answer would probably be to homebrew a few more fantastical beasts to let the druid turn into. Don't just open up the full monster manual, but throw in a few oddball creatures aside from the usual bears, wolves, and dinosaurs.

middlefingerofvecna.com/2016/11/circle-of-scale.html

They could've done something similar to the totem barbarian: one subclass with shared abilities and flavor, with several choices to make along the way to make you more mechanically distinct.

Goblin rogue/bard crimelord

>middle finger of vecna

on mobile but imagine I posted a disgusted reaction image or a cute girl throwing up or something

>Too many for one concept.
When wizard gets that many pages for its spell schools i dont think people would be upset element monks had a few pages too.

i got you

Probably one of the better solutions actually. Better than trying to make it a messier Eldritch Knight at least.

I think they should have held off on the four elements monk, and then put it as a bigger subclass similar to totem barbarian in Elemental Evil. Could have taken up enough room to give it four distinct elemental paths, maybe a few options for each, and it would have given them time to hammer out if it was supposed to be a martial with a few extra damage types and combat tricks, or more of a monk-partial caster

yo /5eg/, can you guys critique my homebrew class? Its supposed to be an archetype for the mystic, but since the mystic is busted atm, i just made it into its own class instead.

thoughts?

homebrewery.naturalcrit.com/share/BkaciQ1L

>MFW never play wizards so I forgot that there are a shitton of schools there

Fuck wizards.

>those channel divinities
do they have no concept of balance?

How do you make whips good?
I'm thinking of making a duel wielding battle master who uses only whips. Is there a whip mastery feat? Will I be useful?

I don't know what you mean by that, but yes MFoV is a joke

>whips
kinky.

lol no

whips got a sizable downgrade due to lack of support. the only upside to whips is that they no longer have that stupid rule that said you cant threaten squares you can strike, now its treated as an actual weapon, one handed, with reach.

beyond that, its shitty.

Play a rogue. Very little of your damage comes from your weapon damage, most of it through sneak attack. You can sneak attack with reach using a whip because it's finesse.

So what was the point of making Spell DCs start at 8 rather than 10 like passive perception and AC does?

I mean if it was another system I would say it was try to balance magic but this is DND we are talking about...

>level 1 characters with DC 15 save DC

bruh. You'd need to make saving throws better too or magic and shit would just be stronger than it is

It is a balance thing. This way player save DCs cap out at 19 (instead of 21), meaning even a creature with a +0 for that save has a 10% chance of succeeding against it instead of 0.

Keep in mind that it isn't that big of a confusion deal though, since the "8 + proficiency bonus + ability modifier" calculation is used universally, even for NPCs.

or if they somehow had 20 in their casting stat at level 1, DC 17 at level 1. cmon

What if you could only choose partial transformations, like centaurs and mermaids etc.

speaking of homebrew and middle finger of vecna, here is my attempt at a blue mage

homebrewery.naturalcrit.com/share/HkliWE2-x

also requesting criticism.

Create more of a Fantasycraft system where there's more kinds of functionalities for weapons to have which allows you to create more meaningful diversity in the options rather than having several options be almost identical mechanically despite being wildly different weapons.

I give them special disarm and trip properties--forego doing damage on a hit to disarm or trip, Strength save with a DC of 8 + bonus to the attack roll, inspired by the hooked spears in OotA.

Yeah compare it to spell attacks.

If you have a spell attack that's your proficiency plus your casting ability modifier, so if you are optimised you're looking at a +5 out the door.

Given that the average roll of on a d20 is 10.5, having a DC of 15 at lv1 really is mathematically equivalent.

Pretty sure it is a balance thing. This is 5e we're talking about. They at least tried to keep martials and casters roughly even (in combat).

your table formatting bothers me.

other than that, yeah looks fine. maybe leaning towards being too powerful, but eh, no limit on spells known makes it a bit better than the wizard.

hows mine?

Can vengeance paladin's level 7 ability (move half your movement after you make an opportunity attack) work with Polearm Master's Reaction "an enemy walks into your range" thing?

also does the "an enemy walks into your range" polearm master thing apply if you move within ten feet of a monster and they walk 5ft to get right next to you?

Have you read any spells ever? Saving throw spells are almost always much more dangerous/deadly, also there is a big difference between enemy AC numbers and enemies saving throws numbers

plus you don't need to make magic users any stronger. There is no issue with how it's done atm

>table formatting
it looks fine for me in chrome, are you using a different browser maybe?

>13 pages
eh, no thanks.

To clarify, do you learn sorcerer spells AND blue magic, or ONLY blue magic.

If it's the latter, do you still learn cantrips?

you learn sorcerer spells and cantrips as normal, for this build. I'm thinking they may end up being a little too strong with that though.

I'm debating on some various changes, like reducing the number of sorcery points they get or something to try and nerf it. Not sure yet.

If they wanted to make magic uses less dangerous they shouldn't of retain the save or die Philosophy. Most things still to half damage and I save anyway. So an enemy making to save isn't that big a deal to begin with.

Personally I prefer 4e way of making spells just as separate form of attack myself, but I know I'm in the minority.

But saving throw spells do much more than spell attacks. They inflict conditions and cause effects that can entirely fuck up a creature or PC. Besides, the way saving throws work is entirely different from AC. AC is pretty much grounded in a way that everyone can hit anything if they roll high enough. Even a commoner with +2 to hit can still hit as far as AC 22 (which is huge), and even after that, nat20 auto-hits. On the other hand, most creatures have very low bonuses to saves, or even negative modifiers, and there is no auto-success on nat20s, though I wouldn't mind using that rule. If saving throw DCs went as high as you say, then most creatures would have no chance against high level spellcasters (though they already don't have anyway).

There are no save or dies except for Open Palm Monk. However there are plenty of save or suck spells, like Hold Person, Blindness, etc, all the way up to Feeblemind and other shit. Making or failing a save against those spells IS a big deal. Additionally, there's a whole boss mechanic, Legendary Resistance, that revolves around avoiding those spells. And the way saving throws and attacks interact with several other class features, spells, feats, etc.

Making them work as attacks would have been honestly simpler.

It would have reduced out of turn rolling, making it faster and it would have made things flow more smoothly. Having spells be attacks vs makes it easier to have non-spells also attack those defences. So you could get a monk hitting vs Ref defence as they go for pressure points or a fighter vs fort as they deliver a massive concussive hit with a hammer.

Would have also let you have 'Oh yeah, that's a bonus to attacks/defence' work properly with everything rather than 'X is a bonus to save DC, Y is a bonus to attack rolls so they don't interact at all despite being basically the same thing'

What do Tabaxi look like in your games?

Dual-wield battlemaster with rapier/whip and the tunnel fighter style, then go rogue. If a foe leaves the reach of your rapier, they get AoO'd. If they leave the reach of your whip, AoO'd. If they move more than five feet, AoO'd. If they try to leave your reach altogether, they get AoO'd three times, unless they disengage, then they get only one. Rogue sneak attack dice works once per TURN, meaning that on other creature's turns, you can sneak attack again. Throw trip attack maneuver on that and everything falls over, and you can still use sneak attacks/maneuvers with any backup ranged weapons you have.

Become the ultimate lockdown monster/tank.

using furrybait in my campaign?

...

Is it ever okay to put two main saving throws as the class's saving throws for, say, a homebrew such as on that warden one?

It had a very weak level 1, so in a way it wouldn't be imbalanced. Then again, the level 2 looked highly abusable by people looking for ridiculous AC values.

However, you also want to make sure each character gets a decent level 1. Barbarians get rage, monks get bonus extra attacks, spellcasters get spellcasting, rangers help with exploring (which matters more early on), et cetera. Saving throws doesn't really count as much at that point, probably.
You could also instead include a second major saving throw as a class feature, such as with Rogue getting wis saving throws.

Is it valid to consider 'I put two major saving throws as the class's saving throws' to be a sign of an immediately bad homebrew?
My favourite is still when people give a class the 'spellcasting' feature but give the wrong number of spellslots.

>Is it ever okay to put two main saving throws as the class's saving throws for, say, a homebrew such as on that warden one?
No. Stick with the established design paradigm and buff its actual class features.

So you're saying it'd be fine to put as level 1 'You gain proficiency in X saving throws', considering that's essentially a class feature

Though honestly I don't advocate for that. Level 1 abilities need to be more distinct, and that warden's ability was literally
'You learn druidic'
'You can put a light on somebody only you see, like some hallucinating madman. It makes them not get advantage against you and not be invisible. Yet, how can you target an invisible thing you can't see with this?'

does Critical Role work as an audio only thing?
i was thinking of DLing it and listening to it while i work because im working on black friday, but im wondering that if it in a video only format if having be just audio is taking something from the formula.
and if anyone already has it as audio only would ya mind sharing it?

I took both of your ideas in mind and made up a Bugbear Fighter (Battle Master). It looks like it ought to be fun, so I'm hoping it is.

Halberd with 15' reach and maneuvers ought to keep me going in combat, coming from playing spellcasters primarily. The DM likes to use creatures with weird mechanics and keeping some kind of distance ought to help.

Thanks for the input.

That's a LOT of spells known. But I suppose if it doesn't affect spell slots/day then that's not the end of the world. Especially since you can never Absorb any save or dies

I'm going to play SKT and was considering playing a Firbolg Nature Cleric. How do the nature domain abilities hold up? And since I'll be fighting lots of giants, I suspect that Dampen Elements, although still amazing, won't see much use.

I have been asked to run a game in a "not medieval" setting. I've only been DMing for about a year; I know a little about other settings like Spelljammer or Eberron, but not much. Any recommendations?

Established design paradigm gives monks proficiency in every saving throw
>I put two major saving throws as the class's saving throws
if you want people to actually consider using your homebrew you need to appease the raging autism of every person who plays this game, if you're a GM presenting your homebrew as options to your players then do what you want
DESU proficiency in a save is a +2 to +3 most of the time and you're gonna fail your saves like clockwork no matter what you have, it's like giving +1 AC except it will come up a lot less often. The only thing I would be careful with handing out is constitution save proficiency since it doubles as concentration for spellcasters.

WW1 Prussia

>Established design paradigm gives monks proficiency in every saving throw
At 14th level, not at 1st.

I would go for Eberron. The competing factions, intrigue, magic technology, and world-spanning adventures are fantastic. Download the 3.5e campaign setting book and give it a read.

Its serviceable. You get a lot of the data and personality from the audio itself, the only thing You'd be missing is the battlefield data, which is mitigated by good imagination.

imo though, a lot of the charm comes from watching the casts reactions. Things like Matt's DM glare, Travis' sadistic grins and Ashley in general really make it enjoyable visually and adds that extra bit of flavor to the characters.

...

Hey, my favorite enemy!

The PCs were still surprised the second time the rug came to life, rolled up around one of them, and leapt into the fireplace

>Second time
>"C'mon guys, what are the odds this will be the THIRD rug that comes to life and tries to smother us?"

Trick question, they ALL DO.

The best part is that the asshole artificer who made the rugs actually got away. The party will never see his revenge coming.

Give them Final Fantasy 1-esque Vietnam.

No advice?

She's better as a refluffed gnome, being a small sized caster that rides dogs.

Spike Growth and Plant Growth are very good spells you get, as is tree stride.

For your druid cantrip you could take Shillelagh or thornwhip for some shennanigans.

Heavy armour means you can dump dex if need be

I've not played SKT, but with the word Thunder in the title, it's looking like dampen elements might get some use.

All in all a solid choice, especially with Firbolg's doubled carrying capacity allowing you to become laden with gear for long-term wilderness survival

Shillelagh & Polearm master work nicely in tandem for Nature Clerics

thanks for the info, ive heard good things about it but as someone who listens to stuff to get though work and is looking for a d7d fix between adventure zone eps i hope this will do me

Can a barbarian reckless attack on opportunity attacks?

Yes
on your first attack of the round, if you've declared you're attacking recklessly all your attacks have advantage

Ty

Read this

>When you make your first attack on YOUR turn
Unless you're somehow getting that opportunity attack on your turn and not someone else's, no.

Nope, you make all the attacks on THAT turn have advantage, and the trigger is the first attack of your own turn.
>When you make your first attack on your turn, you can decide to attack recklessly. Doing so gives you advantage on melee weapon attack rolls using Strength during this turn, but attack rolls against you have advantage until your next turn

Better be a swashbuckler rogue with booming blade and warcaster if you want ridiculous reaction attacks.

Rogue Swashbuckler/Dragon sorcerer with the spell sniper feat using booming blade all day.

i am indecisive and have not played paladin

polearms or sword and board on paladin?

party has a fighter and a rogue i'll be in melee with most of the time. (also a wiz and bard). rogues a swashbuckler and the fighter is a bmaster i think. Dunno what the fighter is using

basically it's either Devotion + Sword n board or vengeance and polearm.

also can't decide to be Triton for fun or Var Human for being stronk and having shield master or polearm master at lvl 1

vengeance triton with a glaive flavored as a trident sounds fun but it's SKT and I dunno how to work him in to it. would also need to wait until lvl 4 for polearm master and use my asi

That's pretty cancer right there lads, don't abuse booming blade

Not as cancer as PAM + Booming blade + warcaster.

I've still yet to see user who said that specific combo has been disproven rather than just sage advice saying 'uuuh you have to make an attack with the weapon as part of PAM's reaction attack', but apparently it doesn't work, though RAW seems to say it does.

booming blade was a mistake

Both polearms and sword and board are good on a paladin.

You can also do both - quarterstaff + shield. Especially good for shillelagh (charisma).

Polearms are good for vengeance or a damage-focused paladin who will up their attack stat.
Sword and board are good for a defence and team support that focuses on upping their charisma, and is particularly good if you roll for stats and get very good stats as you can focus on dexterity instead of strength while still having heavy armour and still having good charisma.

Basically:
'I want to help my team/I have good stats' - sword and board
'I want to deal lots of damage / vengeance paladin' - PAM.

You'll have at least two people within your aura all the time, so charisma isn't a bad idea.

Honestly makes warcaster more worth it, as 'you can cast with your hands full' isn't much of a bonus when you can juggle weapons. Concentration is nice too.
The question is how often your DM has monsters try to get away from you.

Re blue mage

So I can have 25 9th level spells from any class list at level 20?

Warcaster is needed for shielded melee clerics to function correctly, and reaction hold person is more interesting than booming blade, which clerics don't get, being the most melee-ish full casters.

>Warcaster is needed for shielded melee clerics to function correctly,

nope. You can attach your holy symbol to your shield, and use it for everything included somatic components

Same with Paladin.

>somatic?
>stow weapon
>cast spell
>draw weapon next turn if you decide to attack with it
>somatic + material? You don't even have to stow weapon.
>cast spell
>bonus action spell, yet still want to attack?
>cast spell if weapon is not out yet, attack with weapoon if it is. Stow/brandish weapon, do the other action.

It only takes a cleric a single class in another caster to get booming blade. Wizard isn't a bad choice, as it provides utilities (find familiar is essentially a class feature) and the 'shield' spell. But, yes, naturally a Cleric may not have it.

You only get to concentrate on one thing, so unless you're using your time to throw out non-concentation buffs (you could've done that earlier) or you're using a bonus action to cast a spell and thus can't use an action to cast a spell (Understandable if you're putting out healing word or spiritual weapon) then you'll probably not need to cast it as a reaction.

By the last paragraph I accidentally deleted the paragraph before or something.

Booming blade as a reaction is better than booming blade as an action.
Hold person as an action means you're using a powerful spell and you KNOW you'll use it, rather than just waiting for a monster to eventually trigger you to use it.

And you should be conserving spell slots at some point.

I was considering how to work this out, because as a nature cleric you want wis, str, con, and some dex since you can only use medium armor. With shillelagh str becomes unnecessary, but I'd feel like a shit min-maxer for dumping it. How's this: 13(+1) 12 14 10 14(+2) 10? Feels a bit meh.

Holy shit you're right.

How would I even get shilelelghl on a Paladin though? using a feat for magic initiate is a bit of a waste and multiclassing would require Wis and also be kinda a waste.

stats wise I'll have 16 str 16 cha, easy to get with point buy and as triton or human.

I suppose I'll decide based on what the fighter's doing, if he's balls to the wall greatsword fighter I'll do sword and board, if he's tanking I'll do polearm.
nature clerics get heavy armor

Ae you using the feat for anything else

oh also

no sage advice I could find on this -

with polearm master, can you make a reaction attack when an enemy starts out 10ft from you then closes in to 5ft?

like he's in range for you to attack already, but then moves to right up on you

uhh polearm master?

Polearm master is pretty meh.

Clerics already have things they can do with their bonus action and they shouldn't worry much about reaction attacks because they don't get their +1d8 on reaction attacks, only on ONE of their own-turn attacks.
Cleric should probably focus on ASIs that up their wisdom and survivability.

The only way to get shillelagh for charisma is 3 levels in warlock, pact of the tome.

>The only way to get shillelagh for charisma is 3 levels in warlock, pact of the tome.

well then nevermind

>nature clerics get heavy armor
Oh damn you're right, I'm retarded.

I let a druid in my game also transform into monstrosities, so far it's been pretty even.

Warlock isn't bad at all.

For making your attack stat redundant, giving you a good ranged attack option, giving you booming blade / green flame blade / guidance if you want it, two level 2 spell slots a short rest for smiting and spells that you can't normally get as a paladin and maybe an invocation such as devil's sight, warlock is great. However, it will delay the important features you get at level 6 and 11, so you could wait until later to get it.

So I was reading Arcana Cleric, and they get Potent Spellcasting and 2 wizard cantrips. Does that mean they get to add their wisdom to Green Flame Blade twice? How does that work?

>However, it will delay the important features you get at level 6 and 11, so you could wait until later to get it.

That's the thing. It's SKT. If I survive and the campaign actually goes to level 10 then maybe post level 7 I could go lock but frankly it's kinda redundant at that point

Arcane Cleric with Green Flame Blade and Shillelagh from magic initiate, at level 8:
>2d8+2xWis and 1d8+Wis to second target
Sounds good and decently SAD.