/5eg/ D&D Fifth Edition General

Anyone kicking around an idea with the UA monk? I'm going to try out tranquility in an upcoming game.

Intelligence, just intelligence. The player can add their proficiency if their background or experience to date in the campaign justified it. But there really isn't a named skill.

dragon dildo

Kensai PAM/Sentinel monk. Hyped.

I might want to try a Kensei, though I feel like I'd want to use a shortsword.

twitter.com/mikemearls/status/808904018265341952

The RAI of it was that you could use your kensei weapon and not lose out entirely on Martial Arts. Kensei is a hard-hitting DPS monk, basically.

Tranquility has me interested, with the many castings of sanctuary. But the rest of the features are boring.

Why couldn't they just give me an improvised weapon monk so I could live out my fantasies of being Jackie Chan.

...

i literally don't understand his twitter posts, collectively, on the kensai
so kensai weapons ARENT monk weapons, but you still CAN use marital arts? like that one twitter poster said, why is pummeling not a martial art die and just a never changing 1d4?

Kensei weapons are not necessarily monk weapons, but the design of that is to restrict access to the pummel and AC bonus, not to stop monks from using their Martial Arts while wielding them. It was an oversight/mistake and Mearls admits as much.

As has been said before: just saying they count as monk weapons for you would solve all of the given problems with the current wording and achieve the intended result. I'm like 50% sure that that's the route they'll go when they eventually get the official Kensei published in a book.

Mearls doesn't give a shit about RAW really. For all the shit we give him the rulings he actually makes are generally pretty reasonable, even if they're often not in compliance with RAW.

Ah. So they made them Kensei weapons so they weren't just 'pick 3 martial weapons and have them count as monk weapons', since that would mean every monk weapon could use the features?

That makes a lot more sense with the intent and everything now.

That said, I might still want to go for a smaller sword just for style.

Basically this.

Crawford: rules-as-intended.
Mearls: rules-as-fun.
Perkins: what-are-rules?

Prety much, they felt that a monk using Kensei abilities and all the monk abilities (which exist to compensate for a monk's lack of weapons) would make the Kensei way too strong. Short sword Kensei could be pretty fucking cool though, like a hyper combat monk.

I've never been DM before but will be soon, how fair is it to use an Incubus as the first major villain for the party? Could 4 1st level characters reasonably take one, or should I not pull him out until they hit 2nd-3rd or higher?

>would a bonus for slieght of hand be fair if they have it

That wouldn't make any sense user

So, assuming you can still use martial arts with a Kensei weapon, what exactly were they trying to avoid the use of?

A group of four level 1 PCs has a nearly 100% chance of dying to an incubus.

thanks, what this user said i hate all these new UA. for the most part they just seem like things that should have been refluffing but instead now have shit mechanics tied to them. and yes i've said that before.
still some of them are okay. i would rather they just expand existing archetypes though.

>CR4 Fiend
>Spellcasting
It would be *maybe* a fair fight for a group of 4 level 4 pcs.

Wait until later.

Or, considering it's an incubus and would be looking for a meal, introduce him early and have him beat them, but otherwise be beneath his notice and not finish them off.

>i hate all these new UA
Really?
I think at *LEAST* druid is fucking godlike.
Both twilight and dreams are sweet as balls.

You should read up on what exactly CR means
A CR 1 monster is considered a decent challenge for a part of 4 level 1 characters. An Incubus is CR 4, which is considered a fair challenge for a part of 4 level 4 characters and would be extremely deadly for a party of 4 level 1 characters.

Anyone have a Epic 5-1 The Iron Baron?

stuff like using a dex greatsword+flurry of blows, or Glaive as being able to use martial arts totally invalidates the whole "pummel" ability by being a straight better damage choice.

An Incubus would absolutely wreck a 1st level party.
>uses Charm on party member, even with Wisdom save proficiency they might fail DC 15
>Draining Kiss charmed party member and insta-kill him with massive damage.
>repeat until TPK
On top of that, he resists non-magical damage and a good amount of elemental damage too, which means he has effectively 132 HP against a 1st level party.

i just don't think adding more bs obscure archetypes is the answer. its all playtest material though, so i guess my point is kind of moot. i'd rather have them test a lot of (imo) bad ideas and decide they werent good.

I like them alot - they designed the base classes to be static, but the whole system is designed to increase player options by expanding archetypes over the edition's lifecycle.

I think it would get a bit stale without new archetypes desu

A question about the angelic guides for aasimars, since I'll be DMing for one soon: they supposedly communicate with the aasimar through visions, prophecies and feelings, but they are given personalities such as "stern and judgmental" or "kind and parental". How the fuck do I put the both together and show their personality through visions??

Just think about what lessons a guide would want to teach or what hints it might want to drop, then think about what kind of visions might convey those lessons and ideas.

Agreed. If they're actually making these into a phb2 or something, I'll be disappointed. Most of these options are oddball shit that don't feel like they're worth giving an official release compared to, say, the SCAG options, for example.

Even the druid options?

Sensible. So basically you just get the dex punching, but not the various bonus actions?

I was theory-crafting with a friend earlier tonight and had a scary realization: as a DM, the last thing I want to see at my table is a level 18 Half-Orc Samurai. Between Relentless Endurance, Second Wind, and Strength Before Death, the PC would be incredibly hard to kill, ignoring any healing magic that was used on the character.

Dip a level in Shadow Sorcerer

at level 18, even with Indomitable, they're more likely than not to fail any dex or wis saves, and there are plenty of those that will take them out of the fight altogether.

Power Word Kill?

I have a feeling they won't release a second PHB. They seem hell bent on avoiding having a huge library like previous editions. Which is both a good and bad thing. They can avoid the option bloat, but we end up starved for new content. And god forbid they ever give us a new setting in a proper book, not a chapter at the beginning of an adventure or as a half-assed PDF.

They confirmed that they were conceptualized the first mechanics-focused splatbook near the beginning of the year. These weekly UAs are almost guaranteed to be a push toward that book. Expect it out at the end of next year (though without the "PHB 2" monicker, they confirmed they're avoiding that naming scheme, thus VGM instead of MM2).

What do you guys think we'll get from the Paladin UA

Pally's never received a UA. I'm hoping for a offensive, blasting focused one. Only thing I don't absolutely love about Paladin is the lack of AoE and ranged options, a "Sun" based Paladin that got some blast spells/ a blasty CD/ a Blasty level 7 ability would be literally the perfect class

Healing paladin ("Oath of Mercy")

Elemental Paladin ("Oath of the Primordial")

and then maybe a light paladin.

Oath of the Yeoman.

A Longbow/Crossbow smiter paladin.

I'm in a campaign based in a hefty open world where exploring and micromanaging our resources, supplies and such when travelling as important. Art objects found as treasure are more than simply loot, we have to find reasonable buyers if we want good value and the like. Coins found are in varied currencies, from Dwarven Glimmers, Imperial Karls, Golden Falcons, which are all varients on GP. Golden Eggs are heavy, oval shaped coins worth 5gp. Platinum Sunbursts, or "Curses" as they are more commonly known, are an exotic currency used by the old fallen empire. Most places don't accept them as currency as to have a bag of curses means you either bartered with graverobbers, or are graverobbers.

Currently organising our Wagon with supplies, tools and equiptment as we made the mistake when clearing out a small dragons lair. We killed her kobold servants, piled the coprses high and waited for her to meet our challenge. After an hour or so she never showed up, so we went back to the ruined buildings nearby where we stowed our wagon to regroup and attempt to track her down, only to find it smashed, our horse heavily mauled and partially eaten and the dragon smugly lazing on the roof of the broken building waiting for us to meet her challenge. One dragon later we're heading back to the nearest city with a few sacks of treasure over one guys shoulder, all the supplies we can carry over anothers, the Barbarian missing a leg now using part of the cart as a walking crutch.

So what are some essentials to have on the wagon? We've already got an arcane lock enchanted double-padlock chest for our valuables, two barrels of water and plenty of food although we don't seem to need as much since we only tend to use it at times where we can't forage on the move. Just want to check if there are any mundane supplies we really should have on us, some "Dungoneer/Outback Explorer essentials" that you wouldn't leave at home without.

I would be happy with this

I want an option for a Dex Paladin. Maybe the level 7 ability, or the CD, could allow them to use Divine Smite with Ranged attacks. Like, any enemy within 30ft of you could be smited by your ranged attack or something

The only one I'm 100% on us getting is a ranged paladin.

As someone who has tpk'd a level 1 party with four goblins, no.

That being said you can introduce him at level 1. Make him not kill them but show his power by forcing them to be useless. Have his motives be specific, like kidnapping a specific woman, and have him teleport away after. Build him up, let the pc's hinder him from later kidnappings around level 3 enough for the incubus to get personal with revenge. Then after he kidnaps their sister, mom, or whoever they care about, have them assault his base on the material plane or if he has a gate to hell have them delve into the darkness to fight him there. An incubus with minions would be a great level 4 boss that gets them to 5 in my opinion.

A ranged option is a given, although hopefully not a spellcaster option since that has too much overlap with cleric in my opinion.

So new to RPG in general and 5e in particular.

Im playing a barbarian with stats
14, 13, 15 going to +1 with human, 12,11,13 thinking of +1 or maybe dex.

The DM is offering me point buy, or re-roll and the group (friends) is telling me my diversity is going to make me unable to participate as I should be focusing purely on Strength, Dex, and Con.

Are the enemies/campaigns based on only optimised builds or is it at least viable to play a jovial giant? I've got till our first actual session to decide which is in a few days.

15 14 13 13 12 11 is actually better than point buy or array. Bump the 15 and one of the 13s, then put a 16 in Str, 14 in Dex, and 14 in con. Grab medium armor and you're golden, just bump Str and hit like a truck.

I didnt have any intention of going over probably 16 Strength. Was going more for durability, reflexes, and charisma.

But im glad to hear that all I need is an ability increase and some medium armour to be decent

The largest thing we fought was an Elder dragon, bit size didn't come into play beyond health. Though earlier in the campaign, we had fought an adult blue dragon, and both of the martials ended up jumping onto the creature's back and fucking it up while it flew.

30 foot Cyclops

...

Why wouldn't you ever go over 16 str on a barbarian? That just seems counter productive.

Well assuming only a few ability score increases, minus a few spent on feats that I want for him, and the fact I want a Robert Baratheon tier camaraderie I just don't see it as entirely feasible to hit all the goals and reach 20 with Str and rage damage seems to cover the loss in 2 or 3 damage from not having maximised the stat.

So if I wanted to do a Polearm monk what would be better. Way of the Kensei (UA)or just use a spear with the UA feat and go with another monk path?

I want to put a kenku npc in one of my games as a recurring character who learns new things from the players and between their meetings.

Anyone know where would be a good place to find stuff to start making a really basic soundboard?

Where do you draw the line of Samurai's Strength Before Death?
What if the Samurai breaks line of sight?
Do you treat the lethal blow as having 'landed' and the Samurai gets to act before you apply any of the effects that come with a lethal strike?

In most cases strength is more important, since charisma only increases some of your DCs and in most cases your spells will either be buffs or won't have a DC while strength will pump your damage significantly. In very few cases will it not be the better option unless you're doing it solely because it fits your character.

Don't skip on strenght, you use it for every roll in combat ever. And you proficiency bonus also helps way more for skill checks, and your proficiency bonus scales with level and doesn't require you to hamstring your main stat.

The rage damage bonus is only good if you actually have a high str, if you want to have a more diverse martial than maybe a fighter might be the better way to go since you get more ABIs.

If you want to play a jovial Giant just make sure you pick up proficiency in Charisma skills and that charisma isn't utter thrash.

> TL:DR STR is your main stat, and a major force amplifier for every combat situation. Don't skip it.

I'm envisioning it as a sort of bushido battle trance, where the samurai simply shoves death from their mind for a split second to take an opportunity to take the enemy with them in a flash of honor and steel.
With that in mind, I'd say my interpretation would probably only proc on melee attacks, or if the target that conducted the ranged attack was within the samurai's movement speed. Line of sight seems like a good requirement too, unless you feel as if a samurai in his dying (tm) breath would be able to detect the one who slew him, even if he were unable to see him.

It's fairly iconic for a pin cushioned warrior to take out enemies, especially threatening their allies,, before succumbing to their wounds. Hell, just look at Boromir.
A restriction on the specific killer goes against the flow.

Can anyone review these homebrew races' stats?
pastebin.com/1ecrVTKt

Thanks in advance.

Is there a Volo scan?
Or does anyone have a list of the playable races' features?

>24 feet
Multiples of 5 and 1 only.

Every real number is a multiple of one.

Who else is with me that, although we didn't receive a drunken master, the Monk UA turned out awesome?

Done.

Only 2 options, one with wonky, unclearly worded ideas, the other an archetypical, but entirely outside my interests, option.

Meh, it's better than just throwing things together, like fighter, but it also felt lazier.

Anyone here play Mystic? Is Mind Vault focus ability suppose to be the unlimited version of Knowledge domain's channel divinity?

I'm a vengeance Paladin, PAM using a halberd

I use Find Steed alot, like alot. I was considering multiclassing post level 6; either Cavalier or Knight from the UAs.

Which would you guys do? Both are very fitting in every way. Knight has an emphasis on reaction attacks but I have PAM and get a reaction attack 90% of the time

Kensei is a clusterfuck.

Tranquility is a cool non-magic healer/cleric option imo.

So "kensai weapon = monk weapon ++"?

dude look in the fucking trove

Apparently yeah. This simplifies things a lot compared to my original fear that it was a weird separate category that would lead to awkward situations where I have to keep rereading for the right wording on class abilities all the time

>Mearls

Awesome, the Kensei looks fucking great now. For the record, that's how I first understood it, not sure why everyone went the route of "kensei doesnt let you use your class features"

It was RAW, so it was asked on twitter.
They then gave an answer that sounded like it was intended.

Also, if you consider the damages, kensei monk deals about 25% more damage or so, and has access to that +2 AC. The thing is that that damage doesn't require ki or anything, it's always-on. That's not even considering the damage with GWM which is more about +33% total.

I suppose that's not insanely overpowered, especially since it doesn't really fit in with monk's 'I'm going to prone and shove stuff about' or sneakiness but instead just tries to deal as much damage as a fighter.

A kensei with very high stats (rolled) sounds like they might be better than a GWM fighter though, but that's
>rolling for stats

Its because there is this fear that it would be OP if it did any good damage.Like adding comparable DPS to other classes as an option is going to make Battlemaster Paladins and Bearbarians obsolete instead of just standing shoulder to shoulder with them

Just stick with Paladin. You don't need anything from Cavalier or Knight, just enjoy your steed.

They are visions so you have some leeway with them. They can be vague

look what i found
ebay.com/itm/Tactical-Battlemat-Forest-/262761209774?hash=item3d2dc9dfae:g:uHgAAOSwo4pYUB6R
Do u think its worth buying from russia for low price or not?

There isn't really any clear synergy with anything aside from action surge, which literally almost anybody has affinity with.
Champion perhaps, as more crit chance means more crit smites.

But, a warlock or sorcerer sounds like they'd have better synergy, but vengeance PAM paladin isn't very charismatic in general, so you're probably not so well up in that area.

You could also try barbarian for a level.

Does anyone happen to have some level one character sheets he's willing to share? I'm looking for inspiration. Preferably AL legal (PHB+1, no UA).

How would you stat SCP-093 in 5e?

Well of Many Worlds, see pg 213 in DMG.

And the entities?
Thanks.

What stuff from the unearthed arcana is good and balanced?

Didn't know Mearls was a fruit. Is he at least cute?

Making a character who's immune to Exhaustion, however is cursed to make up for it.

How does "Every time you sleep, you are affected by the spell Dream and must save to avoid the nightmare effect at disadvantage (Since the BBEG has a part of their body, or rather did when he was cursed)"

I'll be RPing it as them being constantly exhausted but unwilling to sleep since they know it leads to a recurring nightmare, and spells like Calm Emotions make them have to make a save or fall asleep since they're only managing to stay awake due to being really, really pissed 24/7

Dying from the damage isn't too big a concern since they're a Revenant.