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Previous Thread:
What's the rarest class and specialization in your experience? Never once seen a thief rogue, myself.

First for 8 INT wizards are viable

>What's the rarest class and specialization in your experience?

Even when allowing the UA remade version, I almost never see people play rangers. The people who want to play nature'ish characters go for druids. The people who want to play stealth characters go for rogues. The people who want to play archers just go for Fighter. Ranger still sucks and/or has an identity crisis I guess.

Are there really enough spells without save DCs or attack rolls to make that work?

Any good magic items for 400gp? I'm an Open Hand Monk.

No damaging cantrips but plenty of good fun there anyway.
Magic Missile
Shield
False Life
Jump
Sleep
---
Blur
Darkness
Darkvision
Invisibility
Misty Step
---
Counterspell
Dispel Magic
Fly
Haste
Protection from energy

Just skimming spell lists here, I think maybe it might be a thing, you'd just have to be selective, good at some other kind of damage dealing and sacrifice that you are shit in combat sometimes.

Why ask us? Generally what magic items you'll have access to are completely dependent on the DM. You should never plan a character build around the idea that you'll be able to simply buy a particular magic item.

Is there any real point other than for fun? It seems like a great RP but practically speaking any good stats would be better off used in other wizard variations.

Might do it anyways

1d6+Dex is worth more than 2d6, right? Trying to figure out if I should go deeper into fighter for the second attack, or stick with rogue for more sneak attack dice.

If you can even find magic items for sale at all, the only ones that would be that cheap are potions of healing, maybe potions of climbing, and scrolls of level 0-1.

The problem with fighter/rogues is that you can't Sneak Attack more than once a round. More attacks do increase the chance that you will hit at least once and get to apply those dice, though.

Oh right, that too. If I miss my first attack I still get a second chance. Guess I'm going for the second attack then, it'll be slightly more damage per round if I hit reliably and it'll make my sneak attack more reliable to boot.

You can't cast spells if your spellcasting ability modifier is less than 0

>what is Rincewind

Please post your source.

Never played D&D and I wanna play a caster. My group has a Paladin, a Bard/Warlock and a Rogue. Should I go with Wizard, Warlock or Sorcerer? What are their actual, pratical differences?

You forgot stuff like Animate Dead and Animate Objects. For cantrips there are stuff like Booming Blades and Greenflame Blades.

Warlock spell list is more about curse, debuff and mind manipulation.

Where does it say this? I've never seen anything to this effect in 5e.

Wizard: Generally the best caster with the most options, but sorta complicated to learn and play. I don't really recommend for a first-time player.

Sorcerer: Essentially a simpler wizard. You have less spells to work with, but you can cast any spell you know at any time, you don't have to worry about preparation or selecting your "loadout" for the day.

Warlock: Warlock is a "lite" caster. Their spells are weaker than both a wizard and sorcerer's, but recharge on a short rest (which in game terms is about 15 minutes) rather than the long rest (8 hours) that wizards and sorcerers need to recharge their spells.
I REALLY don't recommend Warlock to new players, because essentially you'll be relegated to spamming Eldritch Blast like a automated turret unless you really know what you're doing with your class build.

Wizard is mainly a "controlling" type caster. You'll put down effects that buff your allies or incapacitate your enemies. Your damage is mediocre.
Warlock is a blaster caster. If you build a bladelock you'll do great damage, but a basic warlock with Eldritch Blast+Agonizing Blast is still great. You don't really get any buff spells, but you have several good debuffs.
Sorcerer isn't as flexible as wizard, but can use sorcery points to raise or lower the levels of spell slots and use metamagic to make their spells more potent.

Bard is also a caster in 5e.
For a new player, though, I'd recommend Draconic Sorcerer. It's reliable and the easiest caster to learn.

>They can cast any spell you know at any time

And yet the wizard can have more spells prepared than the sorcerer can even know (and can cast unprepared spells as a ritual).
You're sugarcoating it a bit there.

Wizard is strong if you know what you're doing, but it's probably the hardest to learn.
Sorcerer and warlock are simpler, and as a new player you won't lose out by not going wizard.

Like the other user suggested, I'd probably recommend warlock if you're new. Casters aren't the most newbie-friendly, but at least warlocks have a good cantrip attack.

Wizards are masters of everything, but generally focus on one school of magic. They have the ability to learn every spell in the game if they can find copies of them, but have to prepare a limited number to cast from each day.
Warlocks only have about 2-3 spell slots for most of their career, but they refresh them on a short rest instead of a long rest. They can also learn other spells that they can cast at will through their invocations. They also have the most consistent and highest damaging attack cantrip in the game. They're very modular and allow for a lot of options in how to build.
Sorcerers have a smaller pool of spells and spells known than the wizard, but their access to metamagic means that they can enhance and modify these spells on the fly, and their magical bloodlines give them extra themed traits.

Warlocks are your nerdy, book smart casters that are masters of utility and combat prowess through study and patience.
Warlocks made a deal with the devil to obtain their power, and receive invocations and boons from their patrons that make them incredibly customizable and great for burst damage when needed.
Sorcerers have magic in their blood which makes them natural casters, and this inborn affinity for magic allows them to reshape spells on the fly.

Don't forget that all of these have a number of non-traditional build options that are viable (they can all be built for melee combat, for example) and also that Clerics, Druids, and bards are also full casters.

A Rogue fluffed to look and be completely like a Wizard, with lots of ranks in Use Magic Device or the 5e equivalent thereof.

Wizards are pretty much the kingpin of the 3: they get the most available spells, biggest spell list, more spell slots than any other class and can cast rituals without having to prepare them which makes for an insane amount of options. They also get the most choices for archetype and most of them are legitimately good (abjuration and divination are my personal favourites) and are pretty much the only class that can be good at INT skills. Sorcerer is a bit more niche, since they rely on metamagic to spice up their staggeringly small spell pool. They're certainly fun to play (especially with wild magic) and charisma is something every party needs but they're lose out on a lot of versatility for their metamagics and extra cantrip. Warlocks are the wildcard, since most of their power comes from invocations. Combining the huge eldritch blast damage with the at-will spells and tome cantrips/rituals means warlocks are more consistent. Their pact magic system means their spells are always beefy but you need to rest every now and again. With the right build and a bit of luck you might come close to the wizard's utility, but it's all about style.

TL;DR if you have no preference pick wizard.

>if you have no preference pick wizard
I would advise against this for a first-time player. I picked wizard the first time I played, and the sheer amount of spells and options available overwhelmed me. I'd recommend warlock or sorcerer.

It's not sugarcoating, it's simply that Sorcerers don't have to deal with preparing spells, which is a nice step to cut out for a new player who's learning the game.

I have to protest the suggestion to go Warlock though. Yes, they have a good cantrip... and thats about it. Getting anything more out of the class requires some pretty intimate knowledge of the game, otherwise you're just left with a spell list that more limited than both the Wizard and the Sorcerer's and so few spell slots that you won't really be able to stretch them out well over any encounter bigger than a skirmish.

This, Sorcerer is infinitely less overwhelming and more straighforward.

Pick Draconic Sorcerer, pick spells that match your favored element, proceed to blast things, pick up meta-magic that makes you better at blasting things. Simple.

Well, now I think about it, a dragon sorcerer gets 13+DEX armour and +1 HP a level, so they're just as good in terms of defence as a warlock.

Part of the deal is that having half-decent AC and health in comparison to the wizard is good, because a newbie might put themself in a dangerous position unwittingly.

The problem is if the sorcerer wastes all their spells, they won't get to do much combat-wise. If the warlock does, they still have a pretty good attack option (though at level 1 it's not really better much than a firebolt) and they get their spells back after a short rest, so they can feel free to splash out on spellcasting a bit.

I suppose sorcerer is probably easier since there's not the invocation faff and all that, but..
I suppose they're close enough that I'd recommend either sorcerer or warlock, depends on what kind of character the player wants.

A product of a setting with actual Vancian casting instead of D&D-style spell slots.

Stat me, /5eg/

Do not fall into the trap that all dragon sorcerers fall into - you know, the one where you pick nothing but fire spells every chance you get. You need relatively few damage spells, as many of them are redundant or worse than even your lower-level options, and a sorcerer's best asset it casting big high-impact utility spells and twinning them.

>So one of my players has the whole, someone killed my family I gotta go find him back story. The problem is I want to run skt. Is there a good point to insert mystery murderer somewhat late in the module? or should I cuck him and never give him the guy.

How do we fix sneaking in DnD?
it's fucking boring. theres not real way to make it feel tactical rather than something you should do at all times because why wouldn't you.

hiding in darkness and half cover sucks jumbo dick because you can either abuse the same spot over and over or you can't because the enemy has aoe. theres no inbetween.

I played as a rouge and was amused to while fooling stupid kolbods, but when I started fooling everyone just because I have advantage on stealth when half speed and +9 stealth it makes it really boring. just hide and attack each turn.

how do we make DnD feel like caution mode in MGS?

Sure, when you're good at the game. If you're a beginner you're playing a caster because you wana blast stuff.

You can't.
Also, sneak has varying degrees of success depending on GM.

I've had a GM who was favourable towards sneak, I've also had GM's who insists on the underdark being brightly lit so I couldn't sneak.

Go figure.

You guys got me to watch Acq Inc. Goddamn Wil Wheaton, why the fuck is he so obnoxious? Can he not be the center of attention at all?

What happens if you reintroduce the material from the playtest back into the game?
Or are the mechanics too different from each other now?

Fighter and sorcerer material most of all.

I don't know what to play. I usually prefer rolling for stats because then I have fewer options to choose from, but this time my DM decided we're doing point buy.
I don't have much of a preference because I'm still new to D&D, I just want something fun. My group consists of a rogue, a bard and a paladin. What do I do?

IIRC, his character gets dissolved in acid one session in and he never comes back.

He keeps screaming about it and not letting it go. He keeps screaming his full name in people's faces when someone calls him Al. He has no inside voice and keeps driving unfunny jokes into the ground.
He should chill the fuck out.

For stealth to work in a tabletop game, it needs to be a game focused on Stealth. The same is kinda true of almost any skill in DnD, they'll all simplified for the sake of quick and efficient play in a game with multiple skills at play.

Your party sounds like it needs fireballs. Be a wizard or a Light domain cleric.

Weird. We had two rangers in our last campaign and it looks like we'll have one in this next one.

I put a lot of energy into giving them Rangery things to do, maybe that's why.

Why did you pick the episode with him in it? Aren't there like 20 without him at this point?

He came back and he's fucking annoying. The dude is 40.

I'm binging all the videos. Which is probably the worst idea.

Are any of your players banned from certain races or classes or builds?

I have a player who is banned from Bards and Rogues because he's a great serious player as anything else and a joke character dickthief whenever he plays one of those two.

I can't entirely blame him, since Vicious Mockery exists, and the Rogue's flavor text in the PHB says "dickthief" over and over again instead of "stealthy dextrous guy".

Damn, I actually liked the podcast that he first showed up in. I will concede however that he did milk that name shit for way too long after they finished Tower of Goldenhawk

Anyone? Would putting as one of orcs that attack night stone be too early for something like that? or should I put the killer somewher in one of the cities that the giants attack in chapter 2? idk how early or late a backstory character should show up.

He gets too shitty and too angry at people who shorten his name to Al. What the fuck is up with that. Goddamn dude, chill.

I'm going to work.
When I get back I better see some hot builds for a level 5 Awakened Mystic.
You will be graded on your performance.

this is a fair point, but unlike acrobatics which is used to avoid damage or theives tools which is used to unlock shit, sneaking is primary for wining fights and if you're a rogue then it's you whole kit.

theres such an expansive system on magic, and duel wielding and even weapons mastery. stealth should be just as extensive. rogues, rangers and to a lesser extent bards and other less tanky classes all rely on this to varying degrees. a rogues power shouldn't be based on the DM's personal opinion while druid is pretty much objective.

Heres some good advice

Wizard-The Wizard can do anything you need them do and all they need is to find the spells they need and plan ahead accordingly. This caster has the highest ceiling for spellcasters and the archetypes can be amazing especially with Diviner Illusionist or Necromancer.Thers a few DM-specific problems that might pop up on finding spells but otherwise your good

Socerors-Your a shitty Wizard with bad archetypes meant to do dumb shit like blast with elements there are like 3 spells for.The saving grace is becoming a one trick pony with your small spell lists by manipulating hem with Metamagic.A Stink cloud that your party automatically saves against will get you much better results than spamming Ice Storm. Its not bad if you can do that but you might get bored once you have done every trick

Warlock-This is a steaky DM dependent class.If you get a lot of short rests and your DM is willing to let you get a Rod of the Pact Keeper then you can be king debuffer with an above the curve save DC and autoscaling spells. If not you are an eldritch blast turret. You can also blow all your class features to be a mediocre melee combatant

5e has some pretty aesthetic statblocks, not gonna lie.

Wil isn't annoying because he's 40; he's annoying because he's Wil. He was annoying when he was 20, and the other players are 40ish and not annoying.

His point was that he's too old to be acting like an autistic five year old.

I assume.

Is she an Artificer?

I should probably ban one of my players from playing casters because he can't imagine any course of action other than charging them and full attacking. Once when his barbarian was away sulking in his tent (his idea,) I had him take over the sorcerer of an absent player. He kept trying to grapple people. He spent 3 turns trying to climb a wall when his character sheet clearly had at least three spells that would help him get over it.

Zing.
The other players are good and don't lose their cool all the time, won't loudly shit on everyone and everything, and would apologize for being disruptive.

This Alchemist was pretty good, have anyone of you picked up 5e Reforged? It's from the same guy so I might buy it but I'm cautious about picking stuff up before I've already read them.

Zing!

Dawnforgedcast is a fuck, don't encourage his shit.

Why not have the orcs or whatever that attacked his family be controlled by fire or frost giants? His family's murder doesn't have to be included in the story you're telling, you could have him be trying to track down the group. Track them to Triboar maybe?

Any advice?

You never grow out of autism.

He copied Pathfinder shit. Don't buy it, save your money for someone who isn't a lying shit.

Don't pick warlock, it has 2 spellslots until level fucking 11. Invocations and shitty at-wills are not worth it.

That's what I was thinking, in his backstory he said the man he was tracking was about 6'3" and that's all he knows. So that fits orc pretty well

> Using PC rules for creating NPCs

You could also make the bad guy a zhentarim agent, which I recommend especially if a fellow party member is a zhent too

My next session will be focused around the PCs searching for someone in a burning/collapsing building.

I assume it will be like a combat encounter with restricted movement and turns, but what other mechanics can I introduce to make it more exciting?

Sneaking is just as good for rogue as anyone, really, unless it's an assassin. Assassins are mostly intended to get use out of the 'advantage on first turn' ability anyway... Probably.

See, a surprise round is really good stuff. If you surprise all the enemy's, it's an entire free turn with bonuses, which is wonderful. But you need your team's cooperation.

I'm afraid your party has pretty much everything it needs, so you can go do whatever.

Maybe try a wolf barbarian or UA ranger or warlock.

>just want to run through the DM's world and watch my influence butterfly effect

>don't want to explore my character's backstory or deal with plot hooks in it
>don't want to deal with anyone else's backstory either
>don't want to acquire land or an army or a kingdom
>don't want to just murderhobo everything

Oh come on, preparing spells isn't as bad as it was in 3e.
Just keep 1 spammable spell per level (low-level spells powered up are good too), 1 combat Concentration buff or battlefield control spell (not per level, just 1 is enough), and then go crazy with the others.

Oathbreaker's main features are at 6 (+Saves everywhere), 7 (OP +damage feature), 8 (Charisma which fuels pretty much all the abilities),9 (Spell slots) and 11.
8 wouldn't be a bad time to multiclass, but 11 makes sure you're not missing out on anything when you multiclass. 7 is the absolute minimum, multiclassing before then is just silly because fucking seriously +CHA damage to 3, if not 4 attacks a PAM Paladin will make every round.

Also see

I take it that artificers can't stack swiftness elixirs in order to become Fry after 100 cups of coffee.

>After his fifteenth sipp of the day, Bink Tweekeyes, gnome artificer, dies of cardiac arrhythmia

Yeah. I feel backstory is overvalued.

The real cool stuff is world development you're involved in. You get a job to help secure a temple used to teleport between previously unconnceted continents, and trade routes, even a whole city starts to spring up around it.

Have the whole party stealthing around (easier than you'd think, those fucking cloaks of elvenkind!), or accept that as a rogue your combat routine is either hidden sniping, or collecting quest items while hidden.
If your DM is good, he'll make sure there are enough things to do during combat other than killing the other guy.

What's wrong with using PC rules to create NPCs?

that was the other option I was thinking. How much interaction with non giants will the PC's have? or is it all giant after the story gets going? I need to get to reading the rest of the book, I've only just started chapter 3 in reading. We are planning on starting next thursday x.x

I don't see anything that says you can't, but you probably aren't intended to be able to.
Not that you can stack more than 2 together without multiple artificers.

>Socerors-Your a shitty Wizard with bad archetypes
What is a Favored Soul?

The UA artificer is a lot, lot better.

Nothing really, if it's an enemy who is designed to provide a challenge for the PCs in combat. But as an actual companion NPC, he can easily overshadow the party.

The main problems are that it takes a long time for little payoff, and also that it doesn't work well in practice. NPCs are built to have a lot more HP than their PC counterparts, just so they can survive more than one round. And because their expected lifespan is so short, they have no use for many of the abilities that PCs get.

They tenu to be more glass cannon-ey, it makes the players to be less special (Look, there are people like you all over the place! And they hate your guys!) and they probably don't get played as intelligently as they should do. Also some of their gimmicks might be more annoying to the players and it tends to be more a fight of enemy power than enemy cunning-traps-and-environment. Also I guess attachment issues. Maybe. I feel there's something i'm forgetting.

Otherwise, they're probably fine.

The same thing that is wrong with PvP.
It's become a rocket tag. Since all PC are high damage and low health when compare to monsters.

I'm actually running the story right now, and that's a yes and a no.

After chapter 3 when the players meet Harshnag, most of the major plot points will be dealing with giants. However, as you'll come to find out while running the story there is a metric ton of traveling. You'll go from town to town and all those travel days in the wilderness will have encounters for your players. It would be boring for them to just roll into Giant after Giant after Giant, so I like to mix it up a little. Throw in some barbarian raids, maybe a young dragon, etc. so they don't get burnt out. Make sure about every other or maybe every 3 encounters is a Giant though to keep the mood right

I would absolutely advise you read the book cover to cover, but since you're a little pressed for time, chapter 3 isn't that important to cover. I'd read the parts you think you'll encounter and skip the rest. The other chapters are more important to have down pat

Something I didnt bring up since its UA and I dont think it fixes the problem of the basic class as much as it gives a melee option that doesnt quite suck as much as Bladelock

I hate the spell slot system so much

Use spell point system instead?
or you could try mystic

My main problems with it are that it makes me feel conservative and save stuff up and that if your DM doesn't pace the game properly casters either don't get enough rests or get too many rests. Also, at low levels, spellcasters don't really get a lot, yet at high levels they're left with so much. Also multiclassing losing spellcasting levels on half/third casters is just stupid. Also fuck level 9 spells.

I enjoy Artificer with the way the alchemist's abilities work.

I can probably get it read before then desu. I dont do anything besides be here on my time off of work so yeah...
Less 4chins more reading and i'll manage

But 5e doesn't use spell slots...

u wot m8

There is not a whole lot of builds for a lvl 5 mystic, not until the class is finished I think. Multiclassing obviously seems like a shit idea, mainly because 5th level milestone boosts your number of pps from 17 to 27 (which is a shitton, compared to a 3 point increase from level 3 to level 4) AND it increases your psi limit from 3 to 5.
It just boils down to what disciplines to pick. I just think Mind Vault is kind of too good to pass if you don't have a bard in your party. It's just heaps of utility.
In terms of races there are plenty of options that give you INT (some of which are pretty cheesy, like the feral winged tiefling), but if you're planning on staying at range I would honestly consider either variant Human with Magic Initiate for eldritch blast, High Elf (fuck it though, knife ears are disgusting) for firebolt or Fire Genasi for Produce Flame. Why? Because if I'm not terribly misunderstanding something, your offensive talents aka psi-cantrips suck really really hard. I mean, 1d8 damage, fully negated by a successful INT save? Only thing thought spear has going for it is range it seems.
On the other hand, you can ignore the fact that you've chosen the wrong subclass and go melee. Pick something like a fucking minotaur for +1 str/int and be a psychic cow, or be a boring ass bitch and go for a high elf with booming blade/gfb, which is probably more optiomal and doesn't make you into a MAD monster. Aside from Mind Vault (which is awesome), pick Psionic Restoration, Intellect Fortress (which is FREE disadvantages for just 1 pp, and you have whopping 27 of them at lvl 5) and Mind over Emotion for CC.

Are you retarded?

The Artificer seems really underwhelming.