Dungeons and Dragons Fifth Edition General /5eg/

I've always wanted to run my players through a haunted lighthouse "dungeon".

The lighthouse once belonged to a chain of Russian nuclear-powered lighthouses built along the Artic circle so great shipping vessels won't run aground.

In it, the players find a functioning radio and tv constantly playing an emergency broadcast signaling the advent of nuclear war. I'll be playing a Chernobyl disaster recording as well as an emergency nuclear war tv broadcast.

The players hear constant shuffling, what sounds like rats in the walls and wailing and moaning. Turns out it's a hermit. Or is it.

They hear constant static and number station broadcasts.

The players find stairs leading down, the rock-hewn stairs progressively becoming flesh-like and weirdly pulsating. And heaving as if breathing.
They find massive eggs, some have flowered, while others remain seemingly dormant.

Dunno if they'd enjoy it though.

I just need ideas of what enemies to include, if any. And I can always fluff while using the same stats.

Oh, there's a little village, if it can called that, that has sprung up on the same island as the lighthouse and is now abandoned.

Great sun-bleached bones lie strewn about on the soil, some jutting tower-like into the air. Curious, whale-shaped skulls, some broken while some are whole also lie upon the island. These creatures have fanged maws with teeth twice the height of a man.

Alright Veeky Forums, what should I do if I want magic to be mysterious and dangerous and not easily accessible to the players? I could just tell them not to play any magic users but I feel like I have to compensate for those somehow. Does low-magic D&D sound feasible at all or is magic just too big a part of the system?

Sword & Planet user here that's been asking for the past couple of threads.

But how would you implement shields / laser guns in 5e?

Space combat I'm already looking at Spelljammer. I'm looking to run a game that for all intents and purposes looks exactly like He- Man and the Masters of the Universe (John Carter, Flash Gordon, 80's pulp fanta-sci-fi)

It doesn't let you do anything you couldn't do by having the barbarian haul the things you'd otherwise make. If you need a key or something, those will usually end up either being 'the rogue can picklock it' or 'it's magical'.

Pretty limited, especially for a multiclass. Given how strong the rest of it is, it balances out, however.

The level 2 feature is honestly the last thing you should be thinking is great.

A few adjustments you could make:

Spellcasters don't automatically gain new spells upon levelling, but actually have to go and find / research / learn from someone else.

Warlocks / Sorcs or whoever don't gain spell slots until Long rest instead of Short.

Be strict and stringent about components and give spell foci a chance to break the more spells that are cast with it per day.

Running out of spell slots in a single day actually incurs Exhaustion (or casting spells requires the spell level's worth in Hit Die).

>All PCs start with one free feat
>Ax variant human due to this, replace Human's stat bonuses with a +2 and two +1s that can be distributed as desired, and give them v. human's free skill proficiency. (maybe replace it with a tool proficiency if you feel like this makes them too similar to half elves)
>Warlock patron spells are known for free, instead of just being added to the spell list. (If you're worried about this making the 2-level warlock dip even stronger, make it so this doesn't kick in until level 3 or 4 or something)
>Use UA ranger, make it so beastmaster's pet attacks can overcome magical resistance starting at level 6
Are any of these changes too much?

Allow players to still play magic users. They're heroes, after all, they break they norm.
5e is already lower magic than some previous editions.

Make magic items rarer and come with downsides to using them, so they're not direct upgrades but also try to make them useful.

Enemy magic users would be rarer until the higher levels. Less magic-based things.

The biggest problem is 'making it more dangerous'. There's honestly not a lot of good ways to do that.

I'd recommend making a table like wild magic that works like wild magic, except the table is much harsher and does things such as 'your spell's target destination changes'.

UA ranger is pretty frontloaded. If you have any powergames they will dip into ranger for 1 level as soon as they can.

...

8 kobolds vs a level 3 Wizard with 8 INT and a diamond pickaxe.

Who wins?

>Confined to a prison, hands bound with cold steel, mouth gagged with a metal chain, door barred by iron
>Same for my companions
>Say a mental prayer to Hephaestus over the course of an hour
>Suddenly, the party is free of its metal bonds, the door is gone and the barbarian has a shiny new axe that I quickly bless.

It's a really good feature if you're creative. You just aren't creative.

It still counts as a named effect, and that's what the actual stacking rule applies to.

Damn son.

The actual stacking rules specifically name spells, and that's it.

What spells do the wizards have?
How many spell slots left?
What type of wizards?
Is it one pickaxe for the three of them, or do they all have a pickaxe?
Where are they fighting?
Why are they fighting?
Are the kobolds equipped?
Do they have homefield advantage / is the area trapped?
Do they belong to Tucker?

What's a good class to multiclass into if I'm playing a Rogue?

If you go with "All PCs start with one free feat" the easiest and cleanest way forward by far is to disallow variant human as an option.
The basic human is completely fine.

How much int does the diamond pickaxe have?

That's some creepy slugs & bugs tier magic realm shit bro

>What spells do the wizards have?
General question, any combination of spells, races, feats...
As long as it's something normally accessible by a 3rd level Wizard.
>How many spell slots left?
All of them.
>What type of wizards?
See above.
>Is it one pickaxe for the three of them, or do they all have a pickaxe?
1 Wizard with one pick axe, dummy.
>Where are they fighting?
Any where.
>Why are they fighting?
Plot reasons.
>Are the kobolds equipped?
Yes, they also could be from the CR kobolds of volos.
>Do they have homefield advantage / is the area trapped?
Anywhere.
>Do they belong to Tucker?
Don't know who tucker is, but if you guys do, you can include him at your own discretion.

If you're not the DM, fuck off

If you're the DM, fuck off and read

Not sentient or magical in nature, literally just a glorified pickaxe.

Make it a hermit named Artyom, and he hits and moves and sticks to the shadows and attempts to separate and hunt down the party one by one.

Your players are going to run into trouble with groups of monsters for use. Let them use the Cleave optional rule from the DMG, at the very least.

Also about to hit level 4, what's a good Feat to take?

>What was the best dungeon you've ever crawled? For GM'a, what dungeon did you craft that your players have enjoyed the most?
My DM ran a campaign based off a modified version of the Shattered Sun setting Veeky Forums made. We had to get into the Gateway of Hell and retrieve the Sun Shard inside it for the Alchemists after a mercenary troupe set up camp around it to try extract it for themselves.

>Located in the middle of a massive desert, surrounded by a maze of giant, magically mutated cacti with needles the size of rapiers and infested with huge, magically mutated scorpions and swarms of carnivorous insects
>At the center was a huge crystal cave that plunged three miles downwards at a slope with a chunk of the Sun at the end that could burn you alive if you got too close without protection and filled the entire place with blinding light, while also causing stray whisps of sand that were blown down to get blasted back out at red hot temperatures (which also periodically caused massive fires in the cacti maze)
>Camp composed of dozens of guards and engineers at the only usable entrance to the maze that we had to sneak through or slaughter to even TRY to start working on getting the shard out
>There were also fucking wraiths and ash zombies from adventurers who'd died trying to take it before us everywhere once we got the shard out too, since their spirits were envious and it called upon them

It was absolute bloody Hell even at level 14, and also some of the most fun I've ever had with a dungeon. Pushed my party to our absolute limits to figure out how to survive it and then work out a plan to transport the shard, and felt rewarding as fuck when we pulled it off.

You aren't often in that sort of a situation.

And anyway, if they're even sensible, they'd have used magical bindings, not just 'put a gag in them', unless they're orcs or something.

'You make an enemy vulnerable to the next source of damage' is a much more generally useful channel divinity, even if it only allows for higher damage rolls over more interesting utility choices.

Ever watched Aliens or played through System Shock 2, bro?

What do you want to do? I'd usually say barbarian for combat buffs, but you lose out on rage damage bonus if you aren't strength based. Still, bear damage resistance and advantage at will is pretty sweet.

The warlock quickbuild says they should take Cha and Con. Is there a reason for the Con? I don't see anything in their features that uses it.

Nice, that's quite excellent. Thanks, brah.
Would he have been a whaler that's become too drunk and too lonely and too mad in his existence on the island, or is he something else always sticking to the shadows?

Go Dex 2nd and con 3rd, you'll probably wear light armor, Dex mod could help abit.
Dex could also help if you decided to choose pact of the blade.

>Shattered Sun

Link?

>Don't know who tucker is, but if you guys do, you can include him at your own discretion.

Wizard gets turned into a pin cushion, runs for his life, gets burned alive, thrown down a dark hole, and eventually gets eaten by a gelatinous cube.

...

neat.
its almost a engineering problem

1d4chan.org/wiki/Shattered_Sun

It's just for keeping concentration up on hex, because it can last a long time if you pass your saves, and lead to a lot of bonus damage.

Nice consolation dubs

Lurks in the shadows. He's a survivor from the time before, all his friends are dead. Everyone new person he meets dies, and he's gone insane from the isolation, deeming everything that's not him as something out to get him, or food, or both.

Tl;Dr?

But make him a friendly sort at first, much better for trhe betrayal to sink in.

How about a 3rd level EK with full plate, both GWF and GWM + a torch that he drops near him to see in the dark and for some DMy reason he has battle maneuvers?

Check.
Mate.

These are all good suggestions, but I think I should clarify a bit. I want to restrict the players' access to magic. Magic still exists in the world, but it belongs to monsters, or to nature, or I guess to warlocks who make dangerous pacts to obtain their power. I think it might make for an interesting campaign when magic is very much associated with "otherness" and the players have to rely on their wits and their brawn to overcome magical threats. But they have to be up to the challenge. I think more magic items, especially common variety magic items, might actually be a good way to compensate. So, they may not be able to cast Cure Wounds, but they could brew healing potions. And they may not be able to cast Protection From Evil and Good, but they might procure an amulet or charm that wards against spirits or somesuch.

Also, he rolled 18 in literally every stat!

It sounds to me like you want to play Dark Sun.

Got it.
Thanks.

The Sun was the egg of an absolutely fuckoff huge Phoenix that hatched and flew away. Fragments of the shell fell to the world below, burning a third of it to ash and destroying nearly all civilizations.

A thousand years later, society has rebuilt itself beneath massive 'Shardstreams' - basically small rings of Sun shards that circle the planet. Large portions of it are lost to eternal night and the foul creatures that dwell within it, however.

Some new races have sprung up, mutated by the potent magic of particularly large shards that fell to the planet - such as a race of rather disgusting looking merfolk, and the cannibalistic naked molerat equivalent of dwarves.

Alchemy is the main form of magic since small Sun shards lend themselves well to it and all formal magical institutions were destroyed centuries ago, and the tech is a mix of Renaissance and very early Industrial age with a slightly Mediterranean/Arabian style of society.

Yeah, you would still have to do heavy restricting though.

Wizards can only learn spells from seeing spells cast and passing Arcana checks, or learning from a higher level wizard.

Sorcerers become tainted by the magic a la Chaos.

Warlocks have their patrons play a much larger role in the world.

Clerics / Paladins have to be extremely strict / rigid with their devotion and their actions, otherwise they could be stripped of power or not alotted all their spell slots for the day.

Druids.....ehh I dunno.

Druids should have to perform rituals to mark land as "theirs" and harness magical power from it, which means it requires they work to preserve it in the longterm.

Different types could draw power from different aspects of nature and landscapes.

What do guys look forward to in the fighter UA?

Gibbering mouthers? Maybe an Elder Brain from VGTM at the bottom, by itself?

You seem to be going for some sort of Lovecraft/Metro 2033 combo, right?

Some form of damage bludgeoning specialisation, a solid tank option, and the inevitable fucking anti-undead variant.

I'd also really love a DEX one specialised in exotic or unusual weapons like chakrams and whips.

Nerfs.

What's your stance on pure builds?Do you think everyone should at least get a few levels from other classes?
Should a monk ever bother with it?

Why nerf fighter?
I mean, at levels 1-6 it's pretty solid.
I admit that at peak levels they're kinda bullshit with attacking 4 times and 2 action surges, also alot of people end up figuring out a way to get a bonus action attack so it gets ridiculous.

rule 34 of whoever that is, hopefully.

But for real, Fighter has definitely gotten a lot of love from their supplemental material, I'm not entirely sure of what archetypes could be brought in that aren't battlerager-tier as far as niche-fluff goes.

Maybe a Mage-killer archetype? A better Bannerman/Warlord (lol @ PDK). A "Hercules / Gilgamesh" type who's just good at doing things or is extremely lucky (using Superiority Dice in a weird cross between Bardic Inspiration and Rogue-Expertise).

6 fighter/ 14 war domain.
Wreak Havoc.

I think multiclassing is too often used to fit a character concept that could easily be executed upon with a pure build that had the appropriate background and a bit of tinkering with its proficiencies.

Multiclassing should only be possible if the character has someone in the party who can train them in their new class or an external source also, such as a Fiend offering them the chance to become a Warlock. Just suddenly gaining a new class with no in-story justification is dumb as shit and goes against the spirit of the game.

Pure builds are both underrated and should be encouraged when possible.

>I think multiclassing is too often used to fit a character concept that could easily be executed upon with a pure build that had the appropriate background and a bit of tinkering with its proficiencies.
This.
Although, a few ideas need multiclassing, generally you can achieve a lot with pure builds and a bit of imagination + use of feats.

For me, since the campaigns i play in tend to start at levels 2-3, if i plan to multiclass I take both classes at the beginning and tend to level them up together as though they were a new class.

For example I played a Paladin/Bard and called it a Steward.

Squire?

>magic hunter/killer, a purpose built dex fighter archtype
>more weapons for everyone

Total newb DM here, forgive me if this question is stupid. If a class or race allows a player to take proficiency in a new skill can I allow them to instead take proficiency in a type of tool, or is it just meant to be something from the skill list on the character sheet? One of my characters is a bard going college of lore who wants to take up lockpicking duties for the party.

I know this isn't really a questions of what's allowed, I'm just trying to work out if it's a good idea.

>Need to get through a metal wall, don't want to use spell slots.
>The wall is money.

>Turn money into bombs.

>Turn used bombs into fresh bombs

>Set up portable traps

The possibilities are really endless.

A throwing axeman.
A medium armour specialist.
A shieldmaster.
A character who gets to 5ft step.

Would 5ft step disengage?

>all PCs start with a feat
I've been considering this myself, but I'm new to 5e and looking at the feats provided in the PH it seems like they're a lot more significant than what I'm used to (3.5e). Which makes sense if they're intended to be taken in place of 2 ability points.

Why would a monk even bother with it anyways?

The return of martial dice.

lol@u guys making calculations about fighting 8 kobolds
this is what happens when you fight 8 of anything:
>two of them hold your legs
>two others hold your arms
>one takes your weapon off your hand
>one more tips your weight and drops you to the ground
>the last two kick your head in until you stupid ass pass out

How to make a Squire? Or do you think Bard/Paladin would also be Squire?

I would agree that Bard/Paladin could be a Squire class. Probably Valor/Devotion where as Steward would be Lore/Crown.

Other than that, i dunno...i want to say Squire would be good as Fighter/??? just to keep it more martial and "simpler" as it is like the "Novice" or "Freelancer" class imo.

Good one. I was thinking of possibly making him into a masked deep one, who is try to resist his inevitable transformation but is failing terrible and is giving into his bestial urges.

Or a dark one, a human that's been affected by transformative body horror from the Shadow plane. He only sees in black and white, predator and prey.

Was thinking in any case, there's been experiments conducted in the depths of the lighthouse and a player stumbles upon his/her clones. Many of them.

Oh, there should at least be a brain in a jar and aboleths. Maybe xenomorph-like creatures, like those things from the Book of Vile Darkness.

Go on...

A pretty good idea, thanks brah.
Was thinking that the lighthouse also was built over a questionable science facility, where the scientists engaged in Philadelphia/Stranger Things type projects. They tapped into elsewhere and brought back things with it, gibbering mouths from the Spaces Between.

Having an emaciated, insane from hunger elder brain with no offspring or slaves isn't a bad idea also.

Yeah, all sorts of inspiration, Aliens, Lovecraft, System Shock 2, others.

Use the renaissance firearms from the DMG, along with all the explosives, and use the modern magic UA.

Thats it, refluff everything else.

>Was thinking in any case, there's been experiments conducted in the depths of the lighthouse and a player stumbles upon his/her clones. Many of them.
Maybe the one they meet initially is also a clone, while they eventually stumble upon something like pic related deep in the bowels of the structure in which they can barely make out the features of the person they met before, or possibly killed a couple of times by then.

And personal shields?

Kinda dead.

Would you allow necrotic damage to heal undead and fiends?
Whereas healing and restorative abilities (like lay on hands) damages them.

Any advice for a level 5 beast conclave revised ranger?

Probably going to ride my noble beast into the fray of battle.

is trying* to resist his inevitable transformation but is failing terribly*. Damn it.

Darklings, holy shit, that's the creature. Instead of becoming a morlock, Artyom became a darkling (elder).

Also, if you have rats in the wall and an Elder Brain lurking in the basement, you could make them cranium rats.

Dear Veeky Forums

Would you guys who have played larger party games before (7+) kindly help a chap out?

Will a larger party get through more content or less in general?

There's a book in the 3rd party stuff called Ultromodern that might have that stuff.

They will argue a lot and discuss every action.

From my experience? Less. There will be some people who hog all the spot light too, since some people are too polite to interrupt the other 6.

>applying for a game on roll20
>they mention 5eg or someone elses post
I don't know if that is a good or bad thing.

Not him, but holy shit bro.

Bad thing. Very bad thing.

The rest depends on your particular magical realm taste