/5eg/ D&D 5th Edition General: Not This Shit Again Edition

Would it kill you to read the fucking books instead?

Is there any way to play a class that does a lot of psychic damage? Even with a UA?

UA - Mystic, take 2

Lot's and lot's of small corridors with a lot of angles. Have fun shooting around corners.

The only thing that really disappoints me about pathfinder/3.5e is how cucked the martial classes are in comparison to casters.

I've read up a little about the differences between 3.5 and 5e. BAB to me doesn't make any fucking sense. Would it be ok to rule that all attacks made by a character have the same attack bonus? I think it would be a buff that they sorely need.

what the fuck?

rpg.stackexchange.com/questions/35180/base-attack-bonus-vs-actual-bonus-on-attacks

"Iterative attacks are at -5 attack bonus"
It's fucking weird

Nigger, why are you talking about 3.pf in a 5e thread?

Yeah it's better to just ignore that. It makes no damn sense.

ya that's what I thought too. What a strange fucking design decision
because of OP's picture

Is mounted combat worth it?

I kinda want to make a Cavalry character.

my b
I guess it's the wrong thread I just saw the pic and wanted to say some random bullshit

What is diamond pick axe?

>how is wizard better than sorcerer
They have more spells to choose from. Wizards have 256 spells on their list, sorcerers have 164. Wizards have 34 exclusive spells, available to no other class. Sorcerers have NOT EVEN ONE. I mean, come on now. Every other caster class has exclusive spells, even bard has 4. How difficult was it to give sorcerer a handful?

Wizards can prepare more spells than the sorcerer can know at any given point in the game. And they can change their arsenal everyday, whereas the sorcerer can only on a level up.

Arcane Recovery, as in the ability to recharge your magical energy, was given to the class that studies their spellbook instead of the class that has magic literally "suffusing body, mind, and spirit". Shit, WotC. Biased much?

Sorcerers are far too limited in Sorcery Points to actually sustain themselves through the course of a standard adventuring day. They burn out their resources too quick, comparatively.

Wizards have straight up better class features. Compare the metamagic Careful Spell with the evoker's Sculpt Spell. Compare their 18th and 20th level features.
>Wizard's Signature Spell: You have two 3rd level spells always prepared and can cast them without spending a slot once per short rest each.
>Sorcerous Restoration: You regain 4 SP when you finish a short rest. To put in comparison, you need 5 SP to create one 3rd level slot.

Fuck, meant to quote

Psh books who reads those animore amirite?

Depends on the dungeon. If you're in an actual dungeon your DM may make it hard to replace a mount if they die, or impose area limitations (i.e. size-limited areas, places a mount can't cross but a player can) that can make it difficult for you. If you're doing a campaign aboveground mounts are great.

Revised Ranger Beastmaster Riders and Find Steed Paladins are the best options, since the steeds have their own combat capability and you can replace them if they die.

>Revised Ranger Beastmaster Riders
>desire_to_know_more_intensifies.png

Revised Ranger beastmasters can actually have decent companion animals that are size medium i think. So a Gnome could feasibly ride one.

o shit nigga
>Kobold riding an angry Badger

>34 exclusive spells, available to no other class
Bards

All a mount requires is a willing mount at least one size higher, so as a Ranger Beastmaster, your beast qualifies. Small races can ride basically all the standard beastmaster options (panthers, black bears, wolves, etc.) but most DMs will probably be okay with letting you get a Riding Horse, since they're not that great in combat otherwise. The main draw over just buying a riding horse is that the UA beastmaster allows you to revive your animal companion with a bit of GP anywhere. Thanks to the revisions, your animal companion will also get ASI's just like you do, which also means that they scale a little better than Paladin find steeds (which only gain intelligence up to I think 10). They also gain a bunch of other cool shit like being proficient in all saving throws and I think two skill proficiencies of your choice, so you can get a Panther proficient in History if you want.

>always advantage

bard can learn 8 spell from other classes, so wizards would still have 26 exclusive spells

>You normally select your companion from among the following animals: an ape, a black bear, a boar, a giant badger, a giant weasel, a mule, a panther, or a world.

Though admittedly if I were DMing a campaign with a BM Ranger i would allow any beast of 1/4th CR. If they pushed I would probably even allow something Non-beast of 1/4 cr if it was animalistic like a Blink Dog or Ixitxachitl.

There is more than one bard in the world. And magic initiate.

Find an animal with pack tactics, and both of you can have advantage. Or you can ride a Panther and have a 40 foot climb speed, a Vulture and take to the skies, or a giant poisonous snake with a swim speed.

>Panther proficient in History
How would you go about justifying this?

>or a world.
I meant wolf.

>THIS IS MY BEASTMASTER PET

The UA has guidelines for other options. Medium or smaller, 15 or fewer hitpoints, no more than 8 damage in one attack were the recommended guidelines.

Human scholar who got true polymorphed by a powerful wizard a few years back. He and the PC are journeying together to undo the curse. Could explain why he gets along with a small humanoid he could otherwise eat in the first place

So is having a skeleton character strictly made for dooting angrily a good idea?

You'll most likely get bored of just dooting in a few sessions and then try to find a way to kill your character.

Though I did chuckle at the idea of a skeleton Bard whose song consists of a single doot on a trumpet he doesn't know how to play.

user who was considering a Dire Wolf from the other day, it'd actually be really easy to make a Dire Wolf just by the ASIs on a normal Wolf, since they're a lot more similar than I thought. In fact, they're nearly identical apart from ability scores and size.
The only issue then is that it's Large, and that's up to the DM to allow or not.
how do you plan to doot with no lungs
checkmate atheists

Where would I look for for feats and additional feats? Also how do you deal with players cheating their rolls?

Yeah yeah yeah, doesn't change my point. Maybe sorcerers should get a Magical Secrets feature at every even level, that might bridge the gap.

>Where would I look for for feats and additional feats?

5egmegaanon.github.io/5etools/feats.html

You know, it might be cool to play as a reverse druid (a sentient animal spirit that can wild shape into a human a few times a day) that's another character's mount or beast companion.

No, it'd do other stuff. It's just that the only reason it's going to be a skeleton character instead of like a dwarf cleric is to be able to doot angrily.

The idea's actually advancing to the point where me and my friend are coming up with lore for why it exists.

Thank you have a wallpaper for your troubles. How do you guys deal with cheating? I'm thinking about just having the PC begin failing roles every once in a while as punishment and slowly rev up the punishments as to subtly tell them to cut the shit.

What kind of cheating are we talking about here?

>Kobold riding a Pteradon
>Goblin riding a Giant Wolf Spider
>Deep Gnome riding a Giant Frog
>Ghostwise Halfling riding a Giant Badger

My players are about to encounter some Horsemen of the Apocalypse.

>as to subtly tell them to cut the shit.
don't be subtle, just tell the to cut the shit.

Just make them roll in plain view of everyone.

And make everyone do it too, not just them.

Just fudging his rolls when he blatantly fails. Thanks I'll be more direct.

>Any +2 dex race (Elf, Halfling, Aarakocra, Kenku, Tabaxi, Goblin, Kobold)
>STR who cares
>DEX 15 (+2)
>CON 15
>INT 8
>WIS who cares
>CHA who cares
>Take Lightly Armored at 4 for 18 dex and studded leather
>2 in dex at level 8 for 20
>17 AC with studded leather
>Don't have to be a shitty dwarf

I really have been wanting to play Sorcerer but it honestly feels like Wizard and Bard are just straight up better than it.

>subtly tell them to cut the shit
Ooor you could just take them aside and outright talk to them about it. Let'em know you caught on to what they're doing and they must stop, otherwise what's the point of even rolling the dice? I once had a player who cheated on roll-fucking-20, let me tell you. All the rolls are saved in the chat log and you can check out the math at any moment. He would add proficiency to saves and checks and, if I'd let him roll his own physical dice, he "suddenly" would start rolling great.

I spoke with him privately and told him I was not stupid, and if he kept doing it then the monsters would also "suddenly" start always hitting him and succeeding on saves against his spells. If we're going to ignore the dice...

First time rolling a Warlock in 5e, coming from 3.5. We're starting at 11th level. I'm a bit stuck on spell selection, but are there any real standouts on the Warlock list? When I look online, it seems a lot of people think certain spells are good just because they were good in 3.5, even if they're very different now. I've gone Archfey/Pact of the Tome, if it helps at all. Thanks!

hex is an absolute must have, other people will tell you the most optimal spells but i'll advise you to choose spells with the most punch because of your limited spell slots

The character option compilation that's been posted here frequently, that shows the options from like 10 different UAs, various adventures, and some homebrew. Is this your first time here?

I did it.
I fucking did it.

I've modelled savage attacker in excel, including the possibility of critting.
I was pretty accurate in my estimate. +1.5 if you have 2 attacks, +2 if you have three attacks.
The bonus increases as high as about +3 for three attacks if you have a 100% chance to hit, ot about +0.3 if you have only a 5% (crits only) chance to hit.

That said, this is only for greatsword. It's better if you have a greataxe and you're some half-orc fucker.

Either way, I was only trying to model what it would be like on a FS Sorcerer using a greatsword, and I've got that now.

>I was pretty accurate in my estimate. +1.5 if you have 2 attacks, +2 if you have three attacks.
Savage Attacker can only be used once per turn.

As a Warlock the only things you "need" are Hex and Eldritch Blast (Cantrip), you won't have many spell slots at all so you'll be relying pretty heavily on Eldritch Blast so get the Agonizing Blast Invocation and maybe the Repelling Blast one too if you want to knock enemies around like ragdolls.

I know that feeling, user. Don't let me discourage you from playing Sorcerer though, they honestly ARE a lot of fun. The most fun I've had in a one-shot was playing a wild sorcerer and I just haven't gotten around to playing him more because I'm a perma-DM. Even if they are not as good as wizard or bard (which are pretty much the most powerful classes in 5e), they're still awesome. That said, ask your DM if you could use pdf related.

In this document that was fairly recently released it says that Lords' Alliance members can purchase a "Cloak of the Mountebank" for 500g and 50 downtime days. I presume they meant "Cape of the Mountebank" which is an item in the DMG. Thing is, it's a rare item that lets you cast Dimension Door once per day. The other rewards are all uncommon with abilities not as powerful... It's even listed in the "Uncommon Rarity" column. Anyone have any more information?

Oh naive apple orchard tree child

You fail to understand that savage attacker's effective value increases for every attack made.

Of course, savage attacker's value can never be more than (Average roll)-(Lowest Roll Possible), but it'll eventually reach that if you make infinite attacks.

So Guys more questions from newfag DM. How would I make my 5e DM screen better? Like what could I add to it to make it have more important information?

...

>Secret Missions.
I'm not running AL, but I'm running published adventures and some of my players have joined the factions. Do you know where could I find those secret missions or factions activities and shit?

It becomes more valuable because of the chance of rolling a low number. On one attack, if you roll a 12 on a d12, there is no reason to use savage attacker. With two attacks, you will have a higher chance to use it because your chance of rolling a low number on a d12 when rolling twice is higher

They're tucked within AL modules. I luckily did Outlaws of the Iron Route (Season 1 DDEX1-9)for a Lords' Alliance one, and even got a +1 Longbow in the same game. Had no idea that adventure had those things.

So there's no secret missions for the main storylines? Sounds weird that you have to play side-modules to have access to those...

Allow me to explain.

If you make one attack, you will use savage attacker no matter what. In this case, your increase in damage is, on average, [Chance to hit]*[SUM(Probability of rolling a number)*(Reroll Value)] + [Chance to Crit]*[SUM(Probability of rolling a number)*(Reroll Value)]

The probability of rolling a number is, for example, 1/36 chance of rolling a 2 with 2d6.
The reroll value is the average increase in damage you'll get for rerolling on that number (It's 5 if you roll 2, 4.0278 if you roll 3 and use savage attacker, and so on). Note that chance to crit refers to a completely different table that models 4d6 instead of 2d6, and is effectively better than using savage attacker on a 2d6.

That's all simple.
Then, what the second attack does is for every value, before adding the (Probability of rolling a number)*(Reroll Value) of every single possible damage roll it checks whether this would result in a better average damage increase than if you DIDN'T use savage attacker and saved it up for later.

tl;dr:
More attacks means more chances to roll a low damage / more chances to roll crits which have swingey damage, which means on average you'll make better use of savage attacker.

>125 downtime days
Who the fuck has that many downtime days?

I'm pretty new so I don't know. The most I've done in a book adventure (SKT) is levels 1-6 and our DM hasn't asked anyone for their faction.

Yeah, that's on my list. Only frustration is the sheer amount of conflicting concentration spells. They *really* don't want you stacking shit in this edition. Otherwise, I can just cast Hex in the first combat encounter and keep it up all day, which sounds good. Strength disadvantage looks like the most useful in combat, by far. It's a shame that maintaining concentration is a Con save, rather than a check, or Hexing other casters would be delightful.

I think taking Repelling Blast, plus Hunger of Hadar could be pretty entertaining. I'd just like some control/utility that didn't take concentration, if that isn't too much to ask.

So it's still shit

Come to think of it, Storm King's Thunder has been really fucking chintzy on the loot, renown, and downtime. It rockets you up in levels but gives you little else. In AL you can definitely farm the modules for a while before hitting lv 5 and end up going in to T2 fairly well off.

+2 strength is almost always better if you can get it. Savage attacker is actually better if you have a higher hit chance.

However, there are conditions that make it more viable, so the more of these you fill in the better savage attacker is:

1. Enemies are easy to hit.
2. You attack outside of your own turn. E.g. reaction attacks from PAM, sentinel or in general.
3. You use a 1d12 weapon.
4. You have a high crit chance (advantage / champion / something else)
5. Your strength is already 20.
6. You make a lot of attacks.
7. You already have a bonus attack, and thus don't need a feat that gives you a bonus attack as much.
8. You have plenty of extra feats (See: Fighter)

On a different subject,
GWF both helps and hinders it. It both increases the average damage (which means more value if you roll low and use savage attacker) but also decreases the chance of rolling low. So, unless you make tonnes of attacks it probably doesn't work well with GWF.

Overall, it's pretty niche but it does have builds where it would be useful.

For mine, I just bought the official one, then I'm gonna keep a notebook with all of my campaign information. For added stuff, I might add some things about encumbrance, recurring NPC's so I don't have to flip through my notebook too often, shit like that. There's also this video that might help.
youtu.be/YRMVTmbe-Is

Assuming Point Buy, how much do UA Rangers need their ASIs?

Wondering if I should go Variant Human for Magic Initiate or pick it up at 4.

I dunno...UA rangers seem pretty decent as is, i wouldnt imagine needing to buff it.

Also which Magic Initiate were you thinking of taking?

I'd think a beastmaster doesn't care much.

A hunter probably might want sharpshooter or something, which also means you want high dex for higher +to hit. And possibly also crossbow mastery, which would benefit from +to damage, unless they start using volley in which case they probably would be using a longbow instead.

I'd say:
BM doesn't care.
Hunter would really rather get sharpshooter and have dex to 20 ASAP, especially for once they get volley.
Deep stalker would be better off with 20 dex and sharpshooter but they don't care as much as hunter.

Wizard with Mold Earth, Mending, and Find Familiar (Owl)

I thought I had it figured out when I looked up Ring of Mind Shielding, an uncommon item. I figured they just mixed up the columns. But then I saw that Ring of Warmth for the Order of the Gauntlet is also uncommon. Yet the other faction rings are rare... For that matter, Order of the Gauntlet's uncommon item, Cloak of Protection, is actually uncommon.

What the fuck? I really hope they don't write errata. I already have a Ring of Mind Shielding from Volo's 6. There is NO WAY I would drop 5,000g on that shit.

The fact that wizard and bard are better than sorcerer does not mean sorcerer fails at playing the system. You're not playing against other classes. Sorcerer is still an upper-tier class.

Are there any items besides a Driftglobe that have sunlight as an effect? My party's a little bit low level, but they're probably going to end up diving into a Drider's den and I want to give them a bit of an edge so they don't all die at once

I would say just do w/e is most fun. If you have more fun in combat, go with the ASI. if you have more fun outside of combat with Utility stuff, go with Magic Initiate.

Which subclass?

I'd do it just as any common animal that would live in their background environment.

As a PC I would request to go on a quest to find a specific animal companion.

>hit level 3
>pick beast master
>has a dream about a certain kind of animal
>goes on quest to find animal soul mate
I MUST FIND THE GIANT BADGERS! IT IS MY DESTINY!

Don't get hung up on Hex. By level 11, 1d6 per blast isn't uniformly better than other spells available to you. Misty Step and Dimension Door are useful for getting yourself out of jams. Banishment automatically effecting 2 targets or Fly automatically effecting 3 targets are worthwhile uses of concentration if you back away from DPR as the be-all end-all measuring stick of usefulness. Greater Invisibility from the archfey list is a powerful buff since it doesn't break on damage.

Beast Master, I'm the previous user who was making a Wolf rider.

I'm thinking either Variant Human or Half-elf, maybe Half Elf (Drow) for backstory, but I'd rather not be the cliche "totally not evul guise" Drow type character so I feel it'd need some work to not be shit.

I use drive.google.com/file/d/0B_f0ehA3p7jleUVObmQzUUVKQ0E/view
it hasn't been updated since midway through season 3, but it's a good way to get ideas. I sent half my players through 1-11 and the other half through 1-12, but the ironic thing is the Enclave members fit the pyramid better, and the Zhantarim members fit the marsh better. The secret missions are pretty boring anyway, one was literally just "we sent a rogue here but havent heard from them, look for a dude with a ring of message" and then they find him with the finger cut off, fight one encounter of random no names who killed him, and then continue on with the actual adventure.

What I did is swap the backstory of the intros a bit, so in the marsh the zhentarim were hired by a member of the merchant's guild to retrieve something, while the pyramid's weird nature-fucking-up effects got the enclave to send people there to fix it. It honestly made more sense.

I do feel that factions aren't supported as much as they could be, and try to be pretty creative in between sessions to give players faction-related stuff to do that furthers their main quest.

A Half-Elf Drow would be Half Human Half Drow?

What is your idea for backstory, maybe we can tell you if it is really cliche?

More new DM question(s)
About how long should I make quests (in hours or in sessions)
How should I handle the advancement of scope for PC quests? I don't want to give them the whole world on the shoulders at level one but generally when is a good time for transitioning?
How much of a quest should I have planned out based on how long it is?

Oh, and how much should I have NPCs/DMPCs around in case the players are too dumb to get something? Either relevant information or just general fluff

All those questions are the product of over-thinking. Each of them requires a feel for the group of people you're DMing for to answer. Accept that you'll need to learn your players' preferences over time.

Just getting a chance to play a character is special enough for most people that they're not going to worry about how special your campaign is. Good players will accept a new DM's growing pains.

It's still in the really rough stage.

>Chaotic Good UA Ranger
>Typical hardass Bounty Hunter
>Most people assume he's bad news because they're always taking high paying jobs and generally off doing dangerous things for cash so most people assume they're a greedy fuck, and if I pick Half Drow that'd be part of it since I assume people would be just as if not more suspicious of a Half-Drow as of Half-Orcs

Still undecided

Maybe, depends on what statblock I take
>Rather than hoarding their cash like most people think, they're spending it on medicine for their sick/poisoned/cursed Dire Wolf (Since it's using normal Wolf statblock and is still weak)

and either
>They're actually using their cash to keep the orphanage they grew up at afloat financially, since it's the closest thing they had to a family growing up (Even moreso if Half Drow), their Wolf is the closest thing to a living family member they have
or
>They're using all their cash to pay for medicine for a sick/poisoned/cursed child/wife/family/etc, potentially they're afflicted by the same thing that's affecting their Wolf

Forgot to add:
The entire thing is pretty cliche, so I was thinking adding "boo hoo muh racism" on top would be a bit much.