/5eg/ Fifth Edition General:

Can someone explain dimension doors utility over other teleport spell?

Can't you still cast with a 2-handed weapon? I know most DMs rule that you can use your free item-interaction action to take one hand off your weapon and touch your arcane focus. Otherwise paladins and rangers would be totally screwed without that feat.

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Modifying dragon stat blocks and their abilities.

Say a dragon or a dragon egg was "corrupted" by say lost/vengeful spirits, something like the Fel from Warcraft, or by powerful necrotic magic.

Some way to corrupt them. What kind of stuff would you change about the dragons? I suppose it'd be based on what affected them?

Tome of Beasts by Kobold Press

Compared to, say, Misty Step it has a much greater range and you can bring a friend with you. Makes it a lot better if you want to use it for, say, GTFOing of a bad situation.

What is shadow dragon?

Nothing? I want to find something that gives martials some maneuvers and a higher variety of spells so that casters can actually get more elemental damage than just fire or lightning.
Heard that its somewhat unbalanced with the CR for most monsters being lower than in actuality.

Woops, meant for

What uses or effects should a bunch of dreamlands spices/drugs have?

Maybe this should be payed in yog-sothothery general, but I didn't see it.

I like inspiration, with one minor twist:
Play to your positive characteristics like your Bond or Ideal to get one inspiration you must use immediately. Play to your Flaw to get one inspiration you can bank for later use.

Anyone else think it sucks that Oath of Devotion spells are already in the Paladin spell list?

Goodman Games' Fifth Edition Fantasy series seems okay. Note that they have almost no player options, and contain almost exclusively adventure paths and monsters.

The way our table inspiration works is: the DM gives you inspiration for outstanding roleplay, or in some cases, coming up with novel solutions to problems. It's your job to track and remember when you have inspiration. Inspiration gives you one opportunity to reroll any roll you want (your own, enemy, teammate, whatever). You must take the results of the new roll.

No, it frees you to prepare other spells.

I had to reread some shit because I noticed that and thought it was basically a waste of a spell, but basically Oath spells don't count toward your # of spells prepared

Stone sorcerers does not need extra attack, they have access to scag cantrips, attack on reaction (with extra damage) and smite (with more slots than paladins). At high levels they even gain force damage each time they cast a damage spell.

And they are sorcerers, they have metamagic

Did you have any particular class in mind? I like coming up with backstories. I always have a couple dozen on the backburner.

That's actually pretty smart.

Looking for a new adventure to run since the group has finished LMoP. I'm fairly new to DM'ing and I wanted to know if there were any real recommendations?

Inspiration works great at my table, but it's used mostly for as a "i really want to succeed at this stupid and pointless thing im doing" roll. Maybe once a campaign they go "okay i'm gonna die here unless I blow this inspiration."

I overwhelmingly prefer situational bonuses instead of a flat yes/no reroll. It just seems lazy and unimaginative.

Well, maybe. I rarely take CR much into account. It's a nice bestiary.

>rolling for stats

Nearly every person I play with picks Lucky

>not rolling stats

17 16 15 14 14 14 master race reporting in

I'd suggest SKT if you think you got the hang of LMoP. It's similar to LMoP where the players get several quests early on and then can go do whatever they want to. There's a ton of areas so it will require a bit of planning by you if they head somewhere obscure, but that's not necessarily a bad thing.

>All +2 or greater bonuses

Must be nice having a DM fellating yoru flawless mary sue character cocks.

the DM didn't do it, the dice did. If I had rolled three 6's, that's what I'd be playing.

Normally in that case you end up playing a joke character or hte DM just says 'lol roll again'

3d6 or 4d6d1 in order is far superior if you just want to dick about. If you don't want to dick about.

Point buy is the best if you don't want a joke campaign or one where people die a lot.

Either way, rolling for stats should be left for a game that's actually suited for it, like old D&D where stats mattered less.

>Point buy is the best if you don't want a joke campaign or one where people die a lot.

or just don't be a bitch and accept that people want to roll dice in game bout rolling dice

Players should play correctly by default. I think it's sad that you have to give out treats to players for simply playing their character without devolving into lolrandumXD.

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My two main ideas at the moment are a hill-dwarf sorcerer (maybe trying one of the new UA sorcerer bloodlines) or a wizard of some sort.

>all those 8 int characters
Must be nice having a score modifier of a giant eagle since INT is so fucking useless in this edition.

Quick guys, we're running a module tonight with level 14 characters for the fuck of it.

We're all making pretty unoptimized, goofy builds. Give me a good meme build thats not the tabaxi shit.

And what does it add that makes gameplay more interesting?
You could roll dice for literally everything and it wouldn't add anything.

Rolling dice represents a possibility of failure - you can't be sure you'll make that jump, you can't be sure you'll hit that creature, you can't be sure the enemies won't avoid the spell.

The effect is barely any different from rolling dice to see who starts at what level with some people playing higher level characters and some playing lower level characters. In fact, rolling to see who plays what level would actually be BETTER - Lower level characters can catch up on exp rather than being forever doomed to be 2 ASIs behind and having more levels is more interesting than having more non-feat ASIs which are almost always just 'you roll higher numbers'.

Then roll in order if you don't want people dumping dump stats.

yeah I have to say, that's got to be my biggest problem with 5E. mechanically, INT barely does anything at all unless you're a wizard. I feel like, even as a fighter, having low INT should feel like a sacrifice.

I was always a fan of rolling for stats in 3.5, but it really doesn't fit with the bounded mechanics of 5e. Even a 6+ point difference in starting stats is an insane advantage in 5e because you don't get nearly as many stat bonuses over time.

All rolling for stats does is make 1-2 players arbitrarily steal the show because their characters are and will always be several levels of power above the rest. Might be fun if you're a sperglord who just wants to show off how OP you are, but the rest of the group will get tired of it really quick.

>And what does it add that makes gameplay more interesting?

Ok, for example take my 17 16 15 14 14 14 superhero. I imagine someone who seems naturally talented at everything all his life would be incredibly conceited and have a superiority complex so I tied that into his backstory and flaws. I incorporate the stat rolls into my role playing, in other words.

So the character I play is an entitled noble who demands the entire party swear fealty to him. As of last night, all of our party actually did swear themselves to me. Two of the players made it pretty clear OOC and IC that the allegiance was nominal and tenuous at best but my character takes that shit REALLY seriously. I was wondering, what are some punishments for them breaking their word that are quirky and fun rather than actually confrontational and would lead to PvP.

I don't want to attack them or leave them to die or anything when they eventually break their word but I want to some sort of consequences.

You could do that and take your stats into consideration for your character with point buy, as well.
'But you'll never end up with an all-rounded characters type unless you want to suck!'
No, but rolling for stats and assigning you'll never end up with a low con character type either unless you want to suck because nobody would dump con.

And that's why rolling for stats in order does the purpose of rolling for stats better than rolling for stats and then assigning. It has the same risks - you could potentially lock yourself out of a character (roll and assign can still softlock you out of characters like monks) and not get to play what you want to play, and there might be team unbalance, but hey.

Iconically,

which other Geenie race is it that is at odds with the Djinn?

I thought Djinn hated the Efreeti? and Efreeti hate the Dao? I am not sure now. Does anyone know?

I've played 10con when I thought it fit the character. Never lower than that though.

Compared to Misty Step, has huge range, can bring a friend, costs an action

Compared to Teleport, it's a level 4 spell slot

Compared to Teleportation Circle, it doesn't take a minute

Make a huge deal about how serious the repercussions will be if they break fealty. When/if they finally do, make a big show of storming off. Then write a series of sharply worded letters condemning them for their disloyalty and false allegiance which you send to the respective lords of whatever cities/places they hail from.

No consequences because these rulers probably won't ever actually care about these letters (if they even read them) and it's something a noble might actually think would work.

Give each of them a honorary, purely symbolic title, such as the master of the hunt or the herald, or the executioner. Promote and demote them as your mood changes.

If I was the DM, I would absolutely have at least one of the lords care and overreact to the letters in a ridiculous fashion.

>Hill Dwarf Earth Sorceror
>Descended from a dwarf who fucked an Earth Elemental

My whole plot hook revolves around the party being a suicide squad team working for an archfey. I need them to stop trying to fuck around with his fact in order to DM properly because I'm not good enough DM to give them the whole fucking sprawling universe in one go.

So when the elf ranger broke his word to her on their first mission, he lost two levels.

Haven't had a problem with it since

They all already have titles. But I am ABSOLUTELY doing this. Excellent idea. Thank you.

I'm totally going to do this too. My character is held in really low regard by basically every noble everywhere so it has pretty good potential to be funny.

I'm just a player so I don't have that kind of power. I have pretty sizeable resources so I could probably pull some elaborate pranks but nothing beyond that.

If you play a Paladin they will literally stop receiving benefits from your auras and shit if they break their words to you. Talk to your DM in private about this, as its more of a fun thing if they discover it from him

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>The only way a campaign is fun is if I can ignore every plot hook and run around the countryside proving how lolXDrandumb! I am

> The only way the campaign is fun if the players are bitches of my all-powerful godlike DMPC

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It isn't optimal, but what would be the most efficient Moon Druid/Monk leveling combo?

also what about adding a single level of Barbarian for kicks?

A paladin wouldn't automatically lose their powers, but if they carry on that path without seeking redemption for their actions then they'll inevitably fall if they no longer lack the force of will to continue paladinning.
But if they then become an oathbreaker they'll actually end up being more powerful because fucking oathbreakers man.

I hope you've told your players you're bad at improvising before the campaign.
But jesus fuck
>lose two levels

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A new player died about 6 sessions in to Venomfang in LMoP. He wanted his new character to be a necromancer but decided to balance out the party by becoming an Oathbreaker Paladin with a backstory that calls for personal power - even at great cost.
At the end of the first big arc I am considering giving him the option of comitting ritual suicide in order to become an undead and reflavour his Smite and Lay on Hands in order to play to the player's desire to venture into lord of the undead territory and play to the characters uncompromising ambition.
Making him undead, he will be immune to regular magical healing but subject to turn undead and similar abilities that affect undead. I would make his smite necrotic rather than radiant and change his Lay on Hands significantly:

You have a pool of necromantic power that replenishes when you take a long rest. With that pool, you can restore a total number of hit points to undead creatures equal to your paladin level x 5.
As an action, you can touch an undead creature and draw power from the pool to restore a number of hit points to that creature, up to the maximum amount remaining in your pool.
Alternatively, while touching a corpse, you can expend 15 hit points from your pool of healing to raise a Skeleton from the corpse. The creature is under your control for 24 hours, after which it stops obeying any command you've given it. Expending another 15 hit points from your pool of healing while touching the skeleton will cause you to maintain your control for another 24 hours.

Am I being retarded? Is this incredibly over- or underpowered. Do I scrap the whole concept? How can else can I play to the characters and players wants?
Thanks in advance.

Anyone else hate rolling for initiative? It's not that it's hard or complicated, but I hate the tone it sets. It removes all ambiguity, because it's basically like the Final Fantasy woosh cut where all of a sudden you're in an alternate universe doing something unrelated. It completely disrupts the flow of the game.

The other awful thing about it is what it tells the players. It immediately says "hey, anything that's vaguely hostile must be destroyed without mercy, because now we're in combat and we won't stop being in combat until you kill them". It makes players ignore other possible solutions, because as soon as initiative has been rolled for you're not out of initiative until everyone on the other side is dead.

Anyone have any alternative systems? I'd like to try something different this weekend, and I was thinking about using the initiative score system. Any experience with that?

>Archfey questgiver is a DMPC
??????????

If a king gives you a quest and you betray him, when he sends people to fuck your shit up, is the king an omnipotent DMPC? Is every NPC that doesn't piss their pants and get run over by your Mary sue an omnipotent DMPC?

You're just furthering my point that you consider the only fun game is you frolicking around memeing and proving how random you are. It's clear you've never DMed and that you are just baiting.

I mean, if there was going to be an unfuckable-with being that could take a player's levels, an Archfey would do it. That said, I hope you at least told your players "hey, I'm bad at improvising, please just go along with the adventure" a few times before you resorted to the Fuck You option.

Druid 2/Monk x gets you wild shape (which works with martial arts) and spells, but monk features don't scale well outside of their class.

>It immediately says "hey, anything that's vaguely hostile must be destroyed without mercy, because now we're in combat and we won't stop being in combat until you kill them".

what is running, talking, or maiming

Hi guys, I was looking for some advice/opinions on some combat I have planned for my well rounded (good mix of martials and casters, 1 dedicated healer) party of 6 level 6 players.

All of the monsters are from fifth edition foes, and it should work out to be a medium encounter, then two hard encounters, and I've planned a few small traps using the DMG guides for the lower damage setback traps.

So far I'm planning on putting them up against:

4 x Fear Guard
2 x Stygian Skeleton
1 x Soul Reaper

I'm expecting them not to get a rest in between, but I'll probably let them get a short rest if they think to ask for one.

Simply have your DM consider that monsters sometimes decide to flee to protect their lives, might be intimidated to flee, might not even start a fight in the first place because the party looks too tough for them to beat without getting themselves probably killed, monsters could be bribed or might work out hostages (They give you hostages, or you give them hostages), might agree peace if you agree to help them with work and they'll agree to help you with yours...

The problem isn't initiative, it's how the DM runs things in this case. Initiative should be a 'SURPRISE ATTACK' sort of thing, whereas normally you'll have a moment before initiative starts or if the monsters are really angry no chance of initiative anyway.

I gotta agree, yeah. My players don't want to explore any alternative systems so I guess we're just stuck with what we've got. I mean, if they like it I guess it's all right, I don't mind it too much.

If a magical being you have no power over whatsoever takes away two of your levels in the blink of an eye because you didn't do what it said to, is that being a practically-omnipotent DMPC?

Yes.

I will come to your house and blow you if you can come up with 5 times in your life that a group of players have ever done that, without being in the face of impossible, overwhelming odds.

It's not that those aren't options, it's that players don't think of them, because they're in the final fantasy mindset.

he's saying character A is a paladin, character B does a ton of shit character A disapproves of, character B stops receiving bonuses from character A's auras

>finally find a 5e group after years of looking
>it's awesome
>two months later
>"Hey guys, let's switch to Pathfinder."
>four against one

You simply need to enforce that players need to get through the dungeon or whatever it is with minimal harm, and that they don't need to fight monsters that aren't protecting anything. They don't get exp for beating stuff up, they get exp for results.

Then they realize that the only reasons they might fight that bunch of poor goblins at the side are
A) Hatred, moral obligation
B) To torture them and get information
C) To scare them off and make sure they don't try anything sneaky
D) To kill them and ensure they don't try anything sneaky
E) They're fucking idiots

Aside from that, in any game, players might avoid fighting weak things if they're low on health and really don't need to fight it because it might result in player death.

Mixed bag.

Now they can't heal party members with the new LoH. But he has another spell to cover healing the party if need be.

Smite being necrotic sucks for them, because there's like, 10 things in the whole game that resist/immune smite, and enough who're vulnerable to it, but lots more resist/immune necrotic.

Now he can also summon 1 more skeleton every 3 levels starting at 3 instead of healing. Oathbreaker adds his CHA bonus to attack damage for himself and undead/fiends near him. So his basic skeletons can get armed with meaty weapons (or hell 2 shitty 1handers) and have eventually an auto +5 damage on all melee attacks. At this point past 5 he can spend 1 of his attacks to knock the enemy down, give his minions advantage, and then go to town on said enemy if they don't have a good save. At level 9 that's realistically at max ~18-30+ damage per turn (if he has 3 minions and both have 2 1hand weapons and all attacks hit) plus whatever he does. But what're the odds that'll happen?

I've been thinking about having my next character be blind or deaf or mute or missing a limb but I'm not sure if I should do it. Seems like it could grt annoying

Oh, right.

That could be pretty plausible.

It requires two hands to attack with, not hold.

>But jesus fuck

Don't break deals with the Fey, man.
People have got to get into their minds that just because she don't live in the pits of hell, that don't mean Mab fucks around.

Not only have I DMed before, it's incredibly obvious that I would be a far better DM than you even if I never did.

I want to do a level 0 session for the first adventure. Has anyone ever done this?

yes

Was it a good idea?

yes

I like playing characters with obvious disadvantages such as those, for example playing a character that literally cannot move on their own in an Eclipse Phase campaign. Still manages to be VIP most of the time.

It's all dependent on whether you are ready to really get out of your comfort zone while roleplaying. Also, negotiate with your GM beforehand before making this kind of character. Statistically, they're going to suck in some very serious way.

No. Level 1 adventurers are pretty pathetic already. What's level 0 wizard going to do? Cast only one spell per day as opposed to two?

what would the consequences for betraying an archfey be in one of your games?

At least just give them some sort of curse that hurts them if they try to attack fey or, say, makes certain fey-related magics fuck up sometimes or something like that until they please the archfey to get it removed or something.
Don't make them weaker, with less options and less potential to have fun than the rest of the party.

Mixed bag.

Now they can't heal party members with the new LoH. But he has another spell to cover healing the party if need be.

Smite being necrotic sucks for them, because there's like, 10 things in the whole game that resist/immune smite, and enough who're vulnerable to it, but lots more resist/immune necrotic.

Now he can also summon 1 more skeleton every 3 levels starting at 3 instead of healing. Oathbreaker adds his CHA bonus to attack damage for himself and undead/fiends near him. So his basic skeletons can get armed with meaty weapons (or hell 2 shitty 1handers) and have eventually an auto +5 damage on all melee attacks. At this point past 5 he can spend 1 of his attacks to knock the enemy down, give his minions advantage, and then go to town on said enemy if they don't have a good save. At level 9 that's realistically at max ~20-30+ damage per turn just from minions(if he has 3 minions and both have 2 1hand weapons and all attacks hit) plus whatever he does. But what're the odds that'll happen?

If you want to do it as a way to tie in backstories, where players play as their backstory rather than adventurers, and you're fine with characters not being fully developed (Level 3 characters are where most characters are properly defined) and the players are all maybe new or something, go ahead.

If it's experienced players who've played the low levels far too often and have character ideas that just don't work at low levels and don't want to play the 'you can be one shot at any time' level 1 or level 0, then not really.

I know what you mean, but I told y'all, I'm not a great Dm. I'm new at this side of the screen, and the players can only get together to play sporadically, like once a month, so all my adventures have to be both a series of one shots and something that tells an over arching story, and that can get tricky.

Sure. And it went better than I hoped, since the pre-3.5 grognard that kept doing it basically reacted like when you find the biggest bully in jail and punch him on your first day.

So what do you think?

Can a thief with their ability to use magic items not intended for them use a Bheur Hag's graystaff?