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

>mfw my player's +2 drowcraft armor and weapon is destroyed by 1 hour exposure to Dawnbringer

+2 was too much anyway, OotA is a bit too generous with magic items IMO

Thread theme
youtube.com/watch?v=WZlYGN5W2Yg

Probably; I never bothered to correctly calculate it. The party has some decent gear and I'm the dreaded 1-2 deadly encounters rather than a full 6-8 spread DM.

Almost forgot the look on my face image

youtube.com/watch?v=ejyBcX_gUNQ
youtube.com/watch?v=DDRcz4DZwew
youtube.com/watch?v=dIqu0dpdYfA
youtube.com/watch?v=6JAOKfX1F8A

>captcha is now asking me for images that "feel romantic"
>forces me to select three when the two it's clearly gunning for (tables with plates and wineglasses) are brightly lit and set for like 10 people are obviously NOT romantic
FUCK YOU, GOOGLE
I CAN'T TEACH THE COMPUTER SUBJECTIVE CONCEPTS LIKE THIS

But user, google is asking you what is love.

Don't hurt it.

Whats with the weird Saving Throw bonuses? You only put them after Saving Throws if they differ from their ability scores i.e with proficiency or magical items

Why Dex +4 when she only has 16 (+3) Dex? Or Wis +4 when she has 14 (+2) Wis?

>WHICH OF THESE NINE IMAGES IS LOVE
>this one
>SELECT THREE
>but there's only one "love" image
>BZZT, SELECT THREE
>uh okay here
>BEEP. LOVE IS DININGWARE. NOTED

>implying monster saves (or AB for that matter) have to match proficiency and stat mods

I'm expecting a future captcha to be

>SELECT THE IMAGES WHICH ARE HUMAN WEAKNESSES
or
>CIRCLE THE POINT ON THE BODY WHICH CAN CAUSE THE MOST PAIN WHEN STRUCK

Is it just me, or does the left seem stronger even with the lower stats (and lower CR) ?

Maybe you don't know love and Google is trying to teach you. Huh. Bet you never thought of that, you hateful thing you.

...

>Kamen Rider

Unless Google is Mormon I don't see how a table set for 20 in broad daylight is romantic
i say i say i say that's a polyamory joke

There's no reason not to. If you want it to have those Saving Throws then just bump up the ability scores, its not like you will even be using skills and an extra +1 or +2 to Insight or Sleight of Hand won't end the game

On the other hand, if you want her to be stronger defensively then add proficiency

Why even mention Con +4 in the Saving throws when her Constitution ability score is +4

It has three turns, its ridiculously strong

What are some good tutorials or guides on how to make a good dungeon /5eg/ ? I'll start out small but someday I would like to make a mega dungeon as big as 'The tower of barbs' from 'Let it die'.

sauce?

Inevitables from Planar Bestiary from the dmsguild.

Not really worth the price unless you are running a lot of outer planes stuff like I do (even then it's debatable). If you want anything just lemme know I can drop one or two stat blocks.

Having spent a lot of time unfortunately on NWN PWs I can tell you this is a terrible idea.

>hrm these players are kicking the snot out of my event monsters
>i should just give them more HP
>let me bump up the CON
>oh there goes the potential for any caster to land a con spell
>hrm they're just getting knocked down eternally, let me increase their AC
>only way to do that is by bumping DEX i guess
>oh the casters can't dps them now, oh well
>boy this one guy is impossible to hit and he's tanking everything
>better increase the monster's AB
>gotta bump STR to do that
>whoops, he's doing way too much damage per hit now and just deleted five other PCs when he switched targets

It's a fucking monster. Its secondary and tertiary statistics can be whatever the fuck and completely divorced from the primaries so as to better reflect intended creature balance and whatever racial or background modifiers should be appropriate. Just because the undiscerning clowns in charge of the MM don't have the time or inclination to delicately tweak each individual creature doesn't mean you have to be a lazy fuck, too.

Left seems like a boss encounter in it's own hard to find and access lair.

Right is somewhat more deadly than it seems with a 50ft hover, 20hp/r regen, and double cast disintegration ray seems nasty.

But the left can teleport and do something twice, whereas the right can only just teleport OR do something.

An unprepared party will NOT be killing either of these if they can't drop it in a single round due to the plane shift abilities.

Ask your DM if you can put Gentle Repose on your spell list, just so you don't need Ritual Caster to preserve meat.

>i should just give them more HP
>let me bump up the CON
Ooor you could just give them more hit dice.

>let me increase their AC
>only way to do that is by bumping DEX i guess
Ooor you could increase their natural armor/upgrade their armor/give them a shield.

>I'm the dreaded 1-2 deadly encounters rather than a full 6-8 spread DM.
That's also me whenever the party is travelling, otherwise either it would be too easy or wouldn't make sense. Though it can cause some unnecessary deaths (I'm looking at you, giant spider/ettercap encounter!)

Anything cool in the Challenge 3 - 6 range?

What type of DM would you rather have?

Safe DM:
>Adheres to the rules of CR Encounters
>Fights always mathematically balanced and straightforward
>occasional bad/good rolling changes the difficulty

Risky DM
>Eyes the encounter to the mood of the plot
>sometimes easy encounters, sometimes HARD encounters
>Boss fights require prep or death

Risky all day every day, but with players that understand what the dm is doing.

Personally I'd prefer the latter.

The safe DM is fine for new players/new DMs though, or groups who collectively agree they want more story/heroics/whatever.

risque 9 times out of 10 please.

the other 1 time is when i want to playtest something.

Not this time

Ha.
You've been played.

I feel like I'm the second one

On Samurai level 15, can you roll the first die and then decide or no?

Dammit

Of course not

Why would anything about a samurai in a WotC game ever be the better option among possible interpretations?

Need help fleshing out a build, but basic Premise is Tabaxi monk 17 & 3 levels of Swashbuckler, take Defensive duelist feat, wield shortsword, seems like you could hit people and use stupid speed + bonus Ac from hitting someone to kite the fuck out of things and use the parry to add enough AC for things that might hit you

I'm the second one, but I always still use kobold.club to have an estimation of what I'm throwing

>Boss fights require prep or death
Heh. When my players walked in to fight an adult dragon for the first time, they only did it after casting Protection from Energy (on two different PCs) and Stoneskin, having the fighter drink both a potion of Flying and a potion of Cold Resistance, AND asking a friendly NPC to cast Fly on one of them. And even then they still made the dragon waste his first breath weapon and were lucky that it didn't recharge until the 4th round!

HAHAHAHAHAHAHA...no.

meant to add that it's Kensei monk

>bard get find steed, aura of vitality, and contingency with magic secrets
>contingency has a range of self (no range modifier in parentheses) sageadvice.eu/2016/03/20/find-steed-spells-that-target-only-you/
>aura of vitality can target you - a spell with a range of self targets the caster sageadvice.eu/2015/06/12/spell-range-self/
>aura of vitality can be used with contingency
>contingency duplicated on steed
>trigger contingency
>aura of vitality occurs on you and your steed respectively - it doesn't target others (because the casting of the spell itself can only be self)
>both you and your steed are now fonts of healing energy
hehe

>Using a 1-hour ritual and both a 3rd and a 6th level spell slot to cast two 3rd level spells

That doesn't seem worth it to heal an extra 2d6 while preventing your mount from dashing.

Contingency can sit on you forever dude

Contigency lasts for 10 days, but as soon as it's triggered you then have 1 minute of double Aura of Vitality as long as you maintain concentration.

and so does your steed

Why would you ever want to burn a 6th level spell slot just to cast a second Aura of Vitality?

what is this first post 4e meme

is OP just trolling?

Because I can cast it before I leave a city, gain *both* slots back on my next long rest, and then have two great spells available for free for the next 10 days?

Literally just a shitposting meme.

Why not just contingency something more useful like a Mass Cure Wounds that doesn't require weird mount contingency shenanigans, bonus actions or concentration?

18d8 + ~25 burst healing
vs.
Aura Of Vitality
40d6 over 10 rounds using two creature's bonus actions and requiring concentration

>mass cure wounds
Because read contingency again

Oh, that's right. I guess it's a good way to store up healing.

Yeah - especially out-of-combat.
Average of 140 healing that you didn't have to use any spell slots for for the effective adventuring day.
That's really solid

Any tips for running this in 5e?

one of my players is saying that college of swords (from the kits of old UA) blows college of valor out of the water.
how the fuck is blade flourish better than combat inspiration?

Yo. So I've never played a ranged elf. Doing that now, went with a homebrew class that feels an awful lot like a valor bard, started lvl 5. what the fuck am i supposed to do? Do i really just pick up sharpshooter and double attack unless a spell would be better? whats better than (1d8+dex+10)*2 per round?

Post the homebrew class.

If I know a spell from another class that is also on the wizard spell list yet not in the spellbook of my wizard, can I put that spell in my spellbook...?

It's not.

nope.

that's what it's looking like to me, which is kinda hilariously silly lol

about to start a 5th edition game as a player after years of being DM

I've really wanted to play a Dwarf Cleric, which Domains are the best/most fun for support/tanking?

life nature grave protection forge war probably

Here's an updated version of that bestiary parser I posted the other day. It now has sources for each of the stat blocks and has some quality-of-life layout changes.

cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/157339657594601472/259598407700578304/bestiary.html

On a scale of 1/10 how dumb of an idea is a Shillelagh main Druid who beats niggas to death with a stick instead of shapeshifting as their main weapon?

Can you use Shillelagh while shapeshifted if the animal form has hands?

It's dumb but it's the lovable kind of dumb. If you've got hands with thumbs, go for it. Become the monkey king.

Unless your DM allows it while shifted, it would probably be better as either Monk with magic initiate/ Druid1 monk rest, or just play monk.

As much as I love shilelagh, druid has no extra attacks and it doesn't scale like other cantrips. Best you could do would involve PAM and after a certain point you'd be better off casting. It would be okay for a certain few level without shapeshifting.
If your DM allows it while shapeshifting, as well as PAM while a monkey, it could actually be incredibly strong if there is any decent CR apes, or just work with your DM to make a decent one.

Yeah that's what I was leaning towards, except the Lizard King since I've yet to play a Lizardman, (Or any other beast-race for that matter).

Can a non-human Druid shapeshift into a Human form?

Its the shadowcaster class user posted here a while back. Went with the shadowblade archetype. Picked up the Armor of shadows, Night's Long Fingers, and Body and Soul paths. Figured since I wouldn't be maxing int id get buffs that dont need it.

homebrewery.naturalcrit.com/share/BkaciQ1L

dmsguild.com/product/194633/Classic-Modules-Today-S3-Expedition-to-Barrier-Peaks?term=expedition to ba&test_epoch=0

Humans aren't beasts, would take alot to convince your DM that they are different enough to allow that. I might steal the idea for the monkey king though.

>humans aren't beasts

Aren't we though, user?

Otiluke's Freezing Sphere:
>You can refrain from firing the globe after completing the spell, if you wish. A small globe about the size of a sling stone, cool to the touch, appears in your hand. At any time, you or a creature you give the globe to can throw the globe
>You can also set the globe down without shattering it. After 1 minute, if the globe hasn’t already shattered, it explodes.
Does that mean you can only hold on to the globe for a minute anyway? Or is the 1 minute limit only for setting the globe down?

Yes. Then it explodes in your hand if you're still holding it.

How would you unfucked the Berserker path?

(Had to fix a bug with legendary actions.)

New version of bestiary.html, with some layout improvements and presentation of the source book that each monster is from.

cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/157339657594601472/259608693082030080/bestiary.html

fukken neat. Nice job user.

>Monk UA tracks

Wow, it's fucking nothing

>Kensei 3/War or Tempest Cleric X

>Allow it to remove exhaustion on a short rest rather than long
or
>Make Frenzy Rage a 1/short rest thing, no exhaustion
And perhaps make Intimidating Presence something they can use as a bonus action?

Paladin UA on monday, what are we expecting other than disappointment?

Oath of Freedom?

>Open ended freedom
>Encounters aren't random as often as they are simply locational
>not a hugger, totally expect the PCs to get in over their head at times and run, suffer, etc.
>They have an uncanny sense for !~danger~! that keeps them out of trouble, and then come up with perfect tricks to overcome obstacles that are way out of level

ARGHGHRhhhhhh :DM shrieking noises: hhhhhhhrrrrrrrrrhhhhhh rrrrrhhhh :more heavy breathing:

(pic related, it's the players)

I don't remember having this trouble outside of 5th edition. Is this bounded accuracy at work?

honestly read some of the WotC dungeons and try to understand how they work

my only other advice is to make a dungeon feel alive but to not make it complicated

i wish my players were that careful

I... don't see the problem there? You wish you had unprepared PCs that keep getting in over their heads?

I guess that's what happens when no encounter whatsoever is a cakewalk for them, they've learned to expect difficulty. Thankfully they have fun that way, and so do I. Hardship and struggle, as long as it's not unfair, makes victory that much sweeter.

>come up with perfect tricks to overcome obstacles that are way out of level
I have the same issue, the problem is you're one head vs 4+, so if you say "yes" too often you're not going to win in that scenario. Try not to let the players plans work out flawlessly, always add in some contingency if you can think of one, sort of like the first scooby doo trap that always inevitably fails at first, and then they have to fix it in the heat of the battle.

Speaking of DM help, my players recently caused a pair of trolls to gain 2000 gold. They also killed the son of one of the trolls, so they have a personal vendetta against the party. My question is, assuming they find a seller who doesn't care they're dealing with trolls, how powerful can a couple trolls become with 2000 gold? Should I go with magical items, or should they fix up an abandoned stronghold and fill it with beasts and guards and traps, and lure the party in?

Anons? Long story short, I want to update an obscure race from 3rd edition called the Caliban to 5e. Would this thread be the right place to share my efforts and get critique on balancing them?

Your work will be criticized, harshly. Take all negative comments with a grain of salt. But yes, have at it.

Everyone will just call it shit but yeah go ahead.

Alright. Due to size, I figured I should just post the GDoc here, but if that's too complicated, I can try and repost them here on the thread.

To summarize things, Calibans are magical mutants, with a wide variety of hideous but useful deformities like extra limbs, changing type to Aberration, metal bones, etc. Back in 3e, there was both a "generic" caliban racial profile, and five subraces reflecting relatively stable strains of caliban.

Banshees are gothic beauties with an innate tie to necromancy. Bestials are all the various man-beasts you can imagine, from the amazing wolf-girl to the astounding ape-man. Brutes are huge, hideous and powerful hulks. Cannibals are slinky, predatory, murderous bastards. And Witchspawn are born warlocks/sorcerers, complete with the standard fiendish/satanic marks like witch nipples, horns and hooves for feet.

So, the bulk of the racial traits are based on subrace, and I tried to include some sort of negative racial ribbon with each one. It's something that I know needs work, but I really need help cooking this up properly.

docs.google.com/document/d/1XovWm65MSmIzQWSMDMXo0_aIpZgq9YSa2KkpO3kThS4/edit#heading=h.8qluse8hxr2