/5eg/ D&D Fifth Edition General

Curse of Strahd?

It's in the OP. 5egmegaanon.github.io/5etools/5etools.html

Fuck. Thinking about the episode where he learns swordfighting is what made me want to be a fighter in the first place.

Shit, skimmed right over it.
Thanks tho.

Do your players really like dungeons?
Do your players wish that Lost Mines had more dungeons in it?
Do your players wish that Lost Mines had been entirely underground, in dungeons?
If so, consider Princes of the Apocalypse

I think yes, mostly. I'll check it out.

definitely do princes of the apocalypse

i've done several books now and princes is by far the best

Eh? PotA was fine and all, but both CoS and OotA are definitely better. I've not had a chance to play HotDQ or RoT, but I'll be starting SKT soon. Here's hoping SKT becomes my new favorite.

So I've played a lot of pathfinder and various other rpgs but never DnD. My question is, how does it differ to pathfinder and should I get both the players guide and the dungeon masters guide? Do I need both?

Pathfinder is a derivative of 3.5e, the revised 3rd edition of D&D. This thread is about 5e, the 5th edition of D&D. File related is a rundown of the differences between 3.PF and 5e. Whether you need any books besides the PHB depends on if you want to run a game or just play in it.

Pathfinder is an offshoot of DnD 3.5e. Classes, races and most game mechanics will feel very familiar.

DnD 5e simplifies and streamlines a lot of the rules and severely reduces character options (though there's still some room for creativity). Numbers are lower, classes are more balanced, feats are quite expensive and generally more powerful.

if you want to play, you need the Player's Handbook. If you want to DM, you need that, plus the Monster Manual. The DM's guide isn't really necessary for the most part.

What are some good reasons for questing after a medusa's head?

>Strength determines damage inflicted with weapons and -spells-
>Dexterity determines attack bonus with weapons and some spells/cantrips and the save DC of spells
>Constitution determines hit points and hit dice recovery
>Intelligence determines the number of spells known for casters or maneuvers known for martial characters
>Wisdom determines your starting Inspiration per long rest
>Charisma determines the number of spell slots for casters and ki / superiority dice / rage uses / etc for martial characters

Would it work?

How much more steamlined? I know about pathfinder being an offshoot and the rules for the most part, but if it's way less free then I dunno if I would like to run it. Though, not as many rules sounds great compared to the plethora of rules in pathfinder

1 - only way to undo petrification of VIP
2 - even bigger monster is weak to petrification

see . there's far less modifiers and skills to keep track of, battle stats like AC HP and damage are generally much lower. I find it to be a much more pleasant system overall.

the lack of character options is definitely a downside, tho, but it's not *that* bad. You get 12 base classes which branch out into subclasses or caster schools. With a few notorious exceptions they're all viable

I wanted to build the Lieutenant from The Black Company, but he doesn't have much character so far. Aside from "good at his job" and "has a huge sword", he's not talked about much.

Elmo might be a better bet. He's described as "He never stopped being the kid who pulls the wings off flies".

Just read Black Company for fighter ideas, it's good so far and I hear it stays that way.

ls there any reason to be a STR based instead of a DEX based Fighter if your DM ignores carry capacity?

See that's what i was liking, was the classes seem to be more viable. Pathfinder really is just this pot of sameness it feels like

Is there any way I can try to get fellow party members more into the roleplay department/participate more during interactions?
Most of our group is first-timers, myself included, we play over text and it feels like they get bored of all the WORDS in our campaign every so often. The rest of us eat that shit up, though, since it's engrossing enough to make the game my only priority whenever we play, so maybe it could be more that they're taking a bit more time to adjust.
For example, one of our players speaks much more ICly now, and gets more involved both in and out of combat, which I think is fantastic.

But how do I get the haughty, spoiled noble with 20 CHA to talk to people more, beyond ''I order you to become my subject''? I don't mind being on face duty at all, but that just doesn't make a whole lot of sense to me.
Input appreciated.

This: Also:
>Collector of bizarre magical items wishes to complete his exhibition of the fauna of the Blackmoon Crags, or other appropriately named deathtrap
>Same collector has lost the original Medusa head, and now the party must navigate the exhibit in search of the actual, live and volatile head. As in no Medusa. Just a head.
>Preservation of an extremely sick friend or family member or important individual until a cure can be found.
>Local doomsday cult is hiring party to track down head to create a medieval-cryogenics institute but with petrification
>Local noble wishes to use the head to un-petrify a beautiful statue, in the hopes of awakening a beautiful woman
>Local noble, after an unfortunate incident with a very pretty-faced stone golem, has resorted to more conventional mistresses. Would like another Medusa head into to hide them from his wife as statues among the property.
>Impoverished workers of the city wanted to stage a riot, and want to petrify all the guards / a select few nobles at night so that they can openly revolt in the morning.
>A young is incapable of coping with the increasing illness of his terminally ill pet. He has hired a sculptor to pose his pet one last time next to the small farm's brook, and would like to cast a comforting illusion and petrify it into afterlife.
>An ancient bas relief of angels on a church's walls was an actually an ancient trap by devils. The angels have recently become alive and moving stone along the bas relief, but they cannot escape. They warn devils will soon come encroaching, but the angels can beat them if the players use their own petrification magic against them.

This would pretty much only work in a point buy environment, and a very generous one at that. Forcing a wizard to take strength, cool as muscle wizards are, just doesn't work. Take the DC and damage thing and apply it to charisma (force of personality), make number of spell slots tied to int (ability to learn) and put spells known on wisdom (ability to memorise). I do like the idea of incentivising some mental stats on martials, but you would want to make it so it isn't essential, just maybe a couple extra uses of key features that may be better than taking a feat. It's a good idea that makes things a little tougher on casters rather than making them directly weaker and gives real impactful decisions to the design choices for martial characters. I do like it, but keep in mind how painful it can be to need multiple attributes particularly if you roll for stats.

Bow Battlemaster with all the extra gubbins that lets you effectively club people with it.

A noble with 20 charisma would never be that pigheaded. Instead consider how smoothtalking a noble has to be to get along with the common folk. Remember that pretty much every noble would have the exact education on proper etiquette and would know exactly how to keep a straight face against even the most mud-covered farmer. The greatest kings are the ones that never need to give an order since people will do what you want regardless.

Dwarf fighter or Half Orc fighter?

dwarf if shield, half-orc otherwise.

There's really only three or four trap classes/archetypes in 5th (4 Elements Monk, Beastmaster Ranger, Blade Pact Warlock, and Ranger core class to a lesser extent) but they've already addressed one/two of those problems with a UA update/rework of the Ranger class as a whole. Every other class/archetype has some way to contribute or perform at their job and do it well.

CoS is lame in my opinion. a lot of poor design choices

havent done OotA yet though

What's a list of the most D&D video games that aren't D&D? games that capture the feeling and/or have similar mechanics

Dragon's Dogma, Darkest Dungeon, Divinity: Original Sin, and Pillars of Eternity are obvious answers

Do all-caster parties work well or are they boring in combat?

does that include halfcasters?

Nothing is boring if players have their shit together.
So yes, it's boring.

I wouldn't even hate on the base ranger class. I think the original Hunter was just as good as a Champion or even a Battlemaster.
Otherwise, you're right. There are very few trap options, because older editions actually included them on purpose.

Rebalancing orcs:

Give them Savage Attacks from half-orc, and make it so they only have -1 intelligence instead of -2.

Still not as powerful as half-orcs, but I think it works.

>This would pretty much only work in a point buy environment, and a very generous one at that.
>I do like it, but keep in mind how painful it can be to need multiple attributes particularly if you roll for stats.
5E supports both attribute arrays and point buy, so it'd be fine. Characters start off significantly better than average, making all attributes matter just makes those 8s and 9s an actual disadvantage - which they should be, by all rights.

>Forcing a wizard to take strength, cool as muscle wizards are, just doesn't work
Make it represent strength of arm and of spirit, the power you put behind all that you do. Magic either draws from one's inner strength, or their body serves as a conduit for energies that are not their own.

>t-t-totally not D&D guys
Dragon's Crown
Might and Magic

>kinda like D&D
Legend of Grimrock
Dragon Age: Origins (haven't played the sequels)

Any old Final Fantasy game (they're basically based on D&D)
Dark Messiah of Might & Magic
Elder Scrolls games (including the old ones)
Star Wars KOTOR 1 & 2

Of course, there's nothing wrong with actual D&D games. Neverwinter Nights 1 and 2 are both amazing.

>Dragon Age: Origins
The original was pretty sexy but the sequels have much better mechanics. Arguably, their stories aren't as good, though.

Dark Messiah of Might and Magic

It's not a math homework in disguise at higher level of gameplay anymore.

They almost do away with + and - bonus (there are still a few available for autistic who can't live without math) and replace it with advantage/disadvantage system.

and multiclassing isn't a trap anymore. So it's actually open you up to a lot of build.

Ie. No need to make a "Inquisitor" class when you can just multiclass Rogue and Cleric without gimping yourself.

The Multiplayer scene died way too quickly. Q.Q

It can be deceptive, though, if you're used to older editions. For example, lots of people think a +1 to attack or AC isn't a huge deal, when it can represent an average of 20% more or less damage.

Why don't you just refluff Half-Orc :3c

> Dat feel when DM who used to 3.pf just gave out +1 or +2 weapon nonchalantly
> Dat feel when I don't want to reveal my power level and lecture our DM about it.

Planescape Torment is literally a D&D setting.

>want to make a goblin hunter who considers goblins a plague and wanna kill them all
>find out this edgy faggot exists
Fuck.

Let's see how long you can keep this quiet until he realizes battles are too hard for him to balance.
Probably really long.

user asked for not explicitly D&D, though.

The concept was dumb and edgy to begin with, though.

What is that from? I thought that quote was from Doom

You can't make Goblin Slayer. He's shtick is that his stat is so screw toward killing goblin and leave nothing to luck, so the "gods" dice can't affect him.

The goddess has to abandon her Cleric PC, because this faggot appear.

>The concept was dumb and edgy to begin with, though
Not really tho. l would literally be a pest control worker with a sword.

So pest control workers are edgy now? l'm not making Goblin Slayer, l'm making a knight with a belief.

Updated from the last thread...

Rate my character

Also, post your current characters

When the "pest" is a sentience being? Yes. Just replace goblin with Jew,Islam or whatever and you will see how edgey it is.

Yeah, like Goblin Slayer. I'm pretty sure he even says something like that himself, it was pretty edgy. What's your point?
Well, when they're killing sapient creatures, yeah, it kinda is. It's like when anime villains rant about those pesky NINGENS being nothing more than animals. It's the same deal.
I guess you could make it not-edgy if you played it for laughs or something, actually, were you planning on doing that? It'd be dark humor, but it wouldn't just be edgy, I guess. Like:
>Oh, goblins? No big deal, ma'am, I'll have the whole cave cleaned out in 24 hours or your gold back!
>Now, for our base level of service, I'll go and close up the opening, and they'll all starve to death, y'know, or for a higher fee we can actually fumigate the whole place, or I could go in there with a sword and chop 'em all up for ya myself.

>I'm a who thinks are a pest
Yeah, that's either edgy or racist af. I'm giving you the benefit of the doubt when I say it's edgy.

Look like a bland default warlock.

>he's a goblin lover
get out

Thanks.

Pick any character Clint Eastwood has ever played

Would two Battlemaster 7 or 8/Rogue 12 or 13be a good combo?
They could both flank a baddie, then with each of their rounds use Commanders Strike on each other to make each attack a sneak attack

You should dump str and get more dex.
Undying pack is pretty meh.

Also why component pouch?

l don't plan on playing le funny exterminator, but l'll not be all tragic about that either. Just like paladins can and do have strong beliefs, my character thinks goblins are pure evil.

To be more precise, l don't this the belief itself isn't wrong. Just imagine the caracter as a really racist uncle. With a broadsword.

I figured that being able to resist being grappled and attacking without a -1 penalty is worth starting with a 14 instead of a 15 in dexterity via point-buy. And component pouch because it functions the same mechanically as an arcane focus, but is worth more.

While it's teamwork fighter is a very cool concept... You can get off turn sneak attack via Twinned spell Haste.

>multiclassing isn't a trap anymore.
Explain how

DraculaUntold/10

How do you justify picking sub-optimal race class combinations when you buy ability scores?

looks cool
i want to play a lock myself
thinking about making a homebrew patron based on undead and necromancy

You can use acrobatic to resist grapple.

Also component pouch doesn't fit your character. Will he really put his finger into a pouch with bat geuno and other smelly stuff?

By weighing it against the idea of having more fun playing a sub-optimal character from a mechanical perspective but with a much more interesting fluff perspective.

>lrn2roleplay

How does haste give you off turn attacks? It just gives you an extra attack on your turn.
Well, they could both be arcane arcane tricksters 13, so they can both cast haste on themselves or each other.

>No UA until January 9

Do we know what it'll be?

My first time DMing went pretty bad, how do I get the courage to keep going on? It was a learning experience, but I feel like I really botched it.
Combats dragged on, even though I tried to give them interesting stuff to do, they just never did it, I botched the ending because I was rushing because it was getting late and everyone was bored by the combats, I kept forgetting the order people were going in combat, I forgot about some NPCs that were following the party in a dungeon and people made jokes about it but it was good natured ribbing but still.
Idk, I want to try again but I just feel like everything went wrong.

readied actions is my guess

No such thing as BAB and weird saving throw scaling. Proficiency bonus is based on your character level.

You doesn't gimp your spell slot for multiclassing (and there is no caster level), although you still lost your higher level spell known.

But the way 5e work, you can just cast stuff like Cure Wound or Magic missile at higher spell slot, instead of having to wait until your learn a new version.

Also no such thing as ACP, so Fighter 1 / Wizard can wear fullplate and cast.

Stuff like that.

I only play human, the idea that another race might be worth my time has never crossed my mind.

Then I just put my stats into whatever my class needs.

Ranger archetypes obviously.

Ranger subclasses. Then rogue, sorcerer, warlock, and wizard.

>Any old Final Fantasy
Maybe the REALLY old ones. At this point, X is an old final fantasy game though. LaughingTidus.jpg is old enough to be a final fantasy character now.

Like said.

But you will have less fun in combat

Dark Messiah and Elder Scrolls don't have parties though

Can you ready just your extra action?

Anyway, it would still stack with the extra attacks from the Battlemasters.

Not him, but not really?
If you're roleplaying, you're playing the stats a bit less than the character, so normally you're perfectly fine not being as good as the min/maxed dude. At least that's how I see it.

Looks like a warlock to me, I like the backstory of why the father/you chose undying though.

The only thing I really dislike is the blood runs thicker than water thing. I know that it means family first now but the original adage was, "The blood of the covenant runs thicker than the water of the womb" meaning the exact opposite, that relationships formed by choice are stronger than family ties.

>Can you ready just your extra action?
The Ready action is just an action you take like any other action. You then use a Reaction to take your readied action.

Because I find it fun to fuck about with different builds, even if they are objectively shittier.

Maybe I want a tanky af Ranger Gnome, some days I may want a minmaxed Human whatever. Who cares.

It sounds like a bit of this is just being unused to how games go. Have you talked to any of your former DMs for advice?

A few of these problems could be solved really easily:
>I kept forgetting the order people were going in combat
You should write down initiative. I use a small whiteboard: it's a godsend.
>I forgot about some NPCs that were following the party in a dungeon
What sort of campaign are you running, exactly, and why was it significant in the first place that you forgot about the NPCs? It's usually best practice to keep the number of NPCs around the party to one or two, unless you're talking about hirelings in which case they don't need to have much personality anyway.

Don't give up!

Ok, didn't know that. Seems way too powerful though.

>You should write down initiative. I use a small whiteboard: it's a godsend.
yeah, I kept forgetting though. True this is just something I need to personally work on.
>What sort of campaign are you running, exactly, and why was it significant in the first place that you forgot about the NPCs? It's usually best practice to keep the number of NPCs around the party to one or two, unless you're talking about hirelings in which case they don't need to have much personality anyway.
Its mostly that the party rescued 3 people, and I had a plan for each of them if the party talked to them, but THEY kind of forgot about them and weren't interested in interacting with them, so I forgot, but then kind of remembered them and were like "so these guys are just following us?" and I said yeah but then they didn't really want to talk to them. That wasn't a huge deal but idk. I guess its more about my expectations versus reality and trying to keep track of everything.