/5eg/ - Fifth Edition General

Nova damage with 15 damage per missile magic missiles
Literal "save now or do nothing for a minute" spell at level 3
Always hits vulnerabilities

I dont roll in the open because my players are prone to stupid decisions and murderhobo.

He does little rule check "reminders", in this instance he rolled 14, which normally hits a goblin. I gave the goblin half cover and it missed, since then he brings it up when he is hit.

No.
There's a lot of UA coming out now, but it'll be refined by release so splat won't be necessary. Likewise, the splat we do get will be naturally less problematic than 3.5 due to the base design of 5e, 5e encouragement of homebrew, and how the UA are being presented. After a few years we'll most likely have a healthy amount of quality content.

As long as you said the goblin would get half cover before the shot.

I don't really see how rolling in the open would encourage players to make any more stupid decisions, really. It's just giving you a license to fudge rolls, is all.

Lore Wizard is the freeform RP of 5e

Yes, which is needed when I get devilish rolls and gets several nat20s.

I don't think players should be punished - because I am lucky. I'm also not an experienced DM, so I don't want some encounters to TPK or cause player deaths because I made a shitty encounter.

>RULES YOUR WORLD
>WORLD
NONE BECAUSE THE NATURALLY CHAOTIC LEANING OF THE WORLD LEANS MORE TOWARDS CONFEDERATIONS OF STATES LOOKING OUT FOR COMMON INTEREST BUT TOO DIFFERENT TO ASSIMILATE
Between that and gods fucking around a lot nobody can really band together for more than long enough to drive back a big threat. That doesn't mean that they're Warhammer style always poised for war with each other but just not in constant contact with one another to distance and such.

I find it's much better to subtley guide an encounter away from disaster than to fudge rolls.

If you don't want everyone to die, just pretend a monster didn't have that overpowered feature it was going to use (It's kinda cheap to throw out new abilities out of the blue when the party's already doing badly, anyway), or just accept that the players might lose if there's a reason that losing won't kill all their characters. Or, maybe the monster back-ups were a bit slower (Though the players knew they were coming) or simply even roll for something like 'roll to see how fast the back-up comes' when you were already going to have the back-up arrice in two rounds or so.

Rollfudge is a DM saftey net and not the optimal way to do things, but as long as you recognize that and say you'll get better at encounter building or whatever in the future I guess that's fine.

Allright, a new edition is up, but now with a changed 14th level feature.

Basically the lower level features are the same, but the application method of spell variations and changing spell types has been changed.

What do you think about the 14th level feature? Is making your own spells OP? Some shit like Magic Missile makes that possibly broken, but Magic Missile itself is kind of broken so I'd rather not think about it.

>Implying my entire world is one state

Don't want to reupload the whole pdf, but here, I fixed the goddamn Magic Missile scaling exploit.

Actually, that brings a new, lesser problem. There is no save for the force damage. Well, it's better than having to deal with the MM exploit.

You're punishing yourself if you keep forgoing the 20s you do roll. Knock them out. Put the fear of death into them. They should be able to at least stabilize their downed party members.

>Actually, that brings a new, lesser problem
Is that a new problem? I was just about to ask if the extra force damage can be halved on a successful save, like when it's used on fireball.

Well, I can add a point about it being keyed to the spell's save, but it's not necessary. Although, it would make AoE spells kind of ridiculous because 2d10 force damage without save is pretty bad.

Hmm, it's not like it's hard to put a sentence "If the damage has a saving throw, this force damage is affected as well" or something to that effect in there.

2d10 force damage with no save on AoE, possibly on like a 1st or 2nd level spell can be a little overpowered, to be honest. It's not nuke-magic missile-overpowered, but certainly not something to sneeze at or ignore.

Stop, stop, stop.
The problem is 100% with Magic Missile. Unfuck Magic Missile instead of jumping through wording hoops.
Just add 2d10 damage to the spell, specify that the added damage is Force and 1st turn only, and you're done.

That is an excellent point. There is theoretically nothing wrong with the original wording of the effect, the problem is just that MM seriously needs to be errata'd.

Eh, don't want to shit the thread that much, but here is a the latest one.

I changed how Spellcraft Mastery works with the damage, and provided an helpful example with it.

Would you make a 10d6 lightning or 8d6 lightning + 2d10 force spell? The answer why you would meld the damage types lies in the archetype itself.

No no, I'm not asking about your modifications. I mean in the original UA version, does this extra damage get treated like normal damage on a lightning bolt and get halved on a successful save or not? It's not clear to me.

Oh? Sorry.

Yes, they do. It increases the damage of the spell, doesn't inflict it on its own, so yes, the force damage is dependent of the saving throw.

I think at least. Hey, y'all who argued with me about Magic Missiles for seven centuries, what's your take on this?

>running Storm King's Thunder
>party is hunting down magic item
>end up in Yartar
>need to find thieve's guild contact for information
>the rogue PC's backgrounds consists of being orphaned and forced to work for a slave master in a tannery, escaping, getting captured and forced to work again, escaping again
>wants revenge on the slave master

How can I set up a way for the rogue to get info on his former master? I'm thinking this would be a good place to set up a quest for him, but I'm not sure how.

Forgot to mention, the player wrote this story as his background during character creation, but he never roleplays and has never make any effort to accomplish this goal, never tried to look for the guy, etc.

Oversaruration is only a problem for socially inept turnips. A non-assburger DM simply limits what materials can be used in their game.

Best level ratio for a Paladin/Undying Light Warlock?

Just a single level dip into warlock?

Is there any good place to download Dungeon Masters Guild pdfs?

I don't think it does get a save, the way it's worded
>increases the damage against every target by...
Whether it's a target or not is the deciding factor. Might even be argued that the damage applies even if it misses, because it doesn't say 'when hit'.

BUT it also says
>if you roll damage for the spell when you cast it
Which is pretty much only magic missile, as with other spells you roll to hit when you cast, or the enemy makes a saving throw - damage comes later.

The correct way to word it would be to take note from Empowered Evocation, Wizard 10
>...you can add your intelligence modifier TO THE DAMAGE ROLL of any evocation spell you cast.
This simply improves the damage roll of any spell without interacting with specific timing, targeting, etc.

Usually players won't actively engage in their backstories the DM drops a hook on them somehow. Most people don't want to "force" their own personal goals onto the party, preferring to wait until their own goals align with those of the plot. Considering this, you should probably tie the slave master to the magic item somehow. Maybe the slave master currently owns it, or he sold it to the current owner. Guess that depends on the item, but you should be able to do something like that.

And wait. This wording is otherwise kind of weird.

>every target
Like, I know there was a huge shitstorm about this part in particular in the last session, but... Shouldn't this be "affected creature" or "creature that receives damage" or something, because most spells can't have multiple targets. One of the only damaging spells with multiple targets are like Scorching Ray and Magic Missile.

That's some weird-ass writing right there.

Or do you target all creatures in an AoE?

>Or do you target all creatures in an AoE?
You target all creatures in an AoE.

Actually, I think the point about rolling for damage while casting actually means that if you actually roll for damage (meaning at least one creature takes damage from the spell). The wording is still kind of annoying.

3e's problem was never oversaturation, it was dead on arrival. Splats bridged the power gap rather than diminished it.

I would say that oversaturation and cross-contamination in splats was really bad in 4E though. Just my impression from reading the first two years of books and then skipping two years to the end of the edition. It was a mess.

The first problem is that it gets UNBELIEVABLY more features than any other arcane tradition, making all other kinds of wizards look like total fucking idiots. So there's that.

The second problem is that what it gets is both far broader and far more powerful than everything but the most autistic usage of Portent (and far more than just one). Ignoring of resistances, the ability to reduce a foe's effective saving throw by 5-10 points, access to almost any spell in the game, etc.

Think of 3e's tier system -- the problem with tier 1 vs, say, tier 3 wasn't just better effects, but far more of them and far more flexibility.

Loremasters are simply better.

4e was messy, but late 4e genuinely ran better than early 4e, and the relative power level of different classes didn't change too much (warlock and ranger stayed amazing, paladin fighter and warlord were always great, etc.). I have special warmth for how insano elemental hexblade warlocks were for example.

There were a lot of dead on arrival classes in 4e though.

Yeah, it wasn't power creep so much as the sheer overload of stuff making it impossible to create a character by reading the books like I did at the start.

I'll agree with that.

Is it worth it to dip a level or two into Wizard if you're an Arcane Trickster?

Yes, especially if you pick up Portent (or obviously Loremaster)

When is a good time? I'm level 3 and just hit another level-up, so I could go to 4 or put it into Wizard. Should I dip into Wizard now or wait til after I hit 5 in Rogue?

How bad do you need the ASI?

I'd go now sooner than later so you can force failures or successes on saving throws.

Not sure. I've got 16 Dex and Int, I kind of want to bump my Charisma up but I can wait on it.

Not really.

You lose 2/3 of a spellcasting level, you don't work towards learning higher level spells and you're not progressing your sneak attack.

The most you get is access to more spells you could've picked and ritual casting of those spells you get, but that's best left to somebody else in the party.

>Make first D&D character, ends up being a murder hobo
Sometime later
>Make a new D&D character, basically ripped right out movies or vidya
Sometime later
>Make a new D&D character, try to be original write big fuck ass backstory that doesn't fit into DM's setting
Sometime later
>Make a perfectly well rounded D&D character that doesn't stick out like a sore thumb
Sometime later
>Get bored of regular D&D characters and start diverging into weird edgecase character ideas

This has been my progression of characters in my time as a D&D player.
I don't know if this is what everyone is like, i think alot of people make Murder Hobos as their first character and get sucked into the power fantasy of D&D.

I want to be interested in making regular D&D characters. I don't know if my character's are "Anime" or w/e, but I do think they are outlandish snowflakes.

I don't know if this is just a very personal thing for me, the player of a snowflake character, or if other people fall into this trap.

I think part of it comes down to the fact that i want to play a game as a certain type of character, but there are no games that allow me to do so, and therefore I just try and make them in D&D.

Any recommendations for getting interested in regular non-snowflake D&D characters?
I'll be honest, i can't even figure out what kind of D&D character I want to play anymore.
I am basically having a D&D existential crisis.

I want to give my fighter player the option to pretty much ritual cast Enhance Ability, choosing from the physical stats only. I want this to be more of a utility thing, though, so the temporary HP from Bear's Endurance doesn't fit. What could I add to Bear's Endurance instead of the temp HP?

Eh, the "power fantasy" element of D&D is overrated, its probably more about people would rather succeed on checks than fail and that combat is about the easiest situation to translate into game mechanics with obvious pass/fail conditions, plus accumulation of loot is a very obvious way to add a sense of continuity.

Maybe you should stop worrying about people on Veeky Forums think about your character, Jesus fucking Christ.

The rest of my party is a monk and three fighters. I thought going a level or two into Wizard could be helpful, plus it would give me access to Identify and Detect Magic.

One thing I do it look at racial bonuses and look at the chart near the front of the PHB where it talks about characteristics and which is good for what class. Then I look at splat books to see what other races have for bonuses and I figure out some cool or less-than-common combos. Firbolg Druid (less common since Volo's just came out), Tiefling Lore Bard, Half-Elf Warlock (with Investigator background and Undying Patron, I play him if Groucho Marx was a detective. Loads of laughs), Aasimar Wild Magic Sorcerer, etc.

Just look for fun combos that you can get into and invest in.

Honestly the best option is to just be a wizard instead, but...

>three fighters, a monk and a rogue
Jesus fuck.

Anyway, benefits and bad bits:

+ pros
You get some low level rituals.
You get more spells you can cast with your spell slots.
If you take a second level of wizard, you can get portent which can be absolutely brilliant (If you're a proper full caster, which you're not) or otherwise just good, and a full spellcasting level.
Booming blade and green flame blade still progress even if you multiclass.
You can keep levelling wizard for more wizard stuff. I supose. And then you're a wizard with a rogue dip for.. I don't know. Reasons.

- cons
You only get a third of a spellcasting level after factoring in multiclassing casters causes you to lose 2/3 caster levels.
You delay your level 5 feature, uncanny dodge, and later rogue features. You also could've just taken your fourth level in AT and gotten a spellcasting level like that, as well as an ASI. But less spells known/rituals, I guess.
You don't progress sneak attack, so you're kinda worse at doing damage. Rogues are already not really the best on the damage scene.
You need 13 int. But I guess you probably have that, but making low int arcane tricksters is perfectly fine anyway.
Would've been better to have just been a full wizard.
You get 1d6 hp instead of 1d8 for every level. Not that that honestly matters much, it's only -1 hp/level.
Your max level of spells known doesn't combine.

Whoops, on the first of the cons, you only get a third of a spellcasting level on the first wizard level and it only matters if you decide to ever level up rogue ever again.

How did you get that from what I said? I am looking for advice, my DM called my characters Snowflakes.

I made another post about it here Then i went to my folks place, and while i was there i was trying to think of a solution and basically came up with the fact that I don't know what i want to play and I feel stuck with only being interested in "edge case" snowflake characters because normal shit seems boring

Is that a serious question?

>Jesus fuck.
Yeah. We initially were a Monk, Rogue, Fighter, and four Bards. Two of the Bards dropped out, the other two died and rerolled as Fighters. It was a mess.

You made some great points, thank you. I'm not really sure what to do.

Thanks, i think this will probably help alot. I appreciate the advice.

The biggest issue i have is i am one of those insufferable creative people, so instead of playing a class in the book, i try and make my own via Multiclassing. Because i have to be creative and "roll my own" instead of using what is in the books.

Trying to get over that.

Part of me was thinking to almost completely randomly generate my next character and just play it and force myself to stick with it and not multiclass at all.

Roll Stats, in order and pick something based on that. Then picking class and race based on that.
or
Randomly select class and race, and then use standard array and put them where they most fit.

Basically remove the aspect of the game that allows me to make my snowflake.
Also to just adhere so strongly to my DM's setting / words in the book and play the Archetypal character of said class and race.

Use your level 4 ASI to get ritual caster, hope you can get more rituals later on too.

Seven player party, with four bards? Yikes with a capital YIKES.

Try this:

whothefuckismydndcharacter.com/

Of course, you don't have to follow it to the letter, but it'll help generate some fun ideas. Also, steal. Steal from movies to make fun/entertaining characters. Like I said, I play my warlock like Groucho Marx was a detective. He blunt, he's quick witted, he asks odd questions but has very good reasons to do so, has weird quirks but nothing that interrupts the flow of the roleplay or keeps the DM from going through exposition. I also act out my scenes a bit.

Example, we're in a lordess's mansion and we were being served a refined dinner. Everyone else at the table wasn't doing anything and were just listening to the DM, I however acted like I was cutting meat, buttering bread, having my wine poured and only talked when my mouth wasn't full and my host wasn't talking. It wasn't distracting because I wasn't being loud, the other players were focus on the DM and not me, but it helped me roleplay my character a bit more.

Also, I should add, playing Groucho Marx in Curse of Strahd is so much fun. The DM has run CoS a lot, so he welcomes the light hearted quips I throw out.

So how does pure stone Sorcerer work exactly? Seems a little bit MAD but I guess CON doesn't need to be to high.

I'm honestly kinda sad it's a Gish instead of just being a Sorcerer with a focus on Geomancy.

>ROMANTIC HUMAN BARBARIAN FROM A SUPER RELIGIOUS UPBRINGING WHO DOESN'T HAVE TIME FOR ALL THIS PROPHECY BULLSHIT
Actually sounds like a fun concept. Could change the class and race to whatever, but I think I'm saving the rest for later use.

You can also keep generating characters by clicking the line below the description. It's fun to just keep clicking to see what the generator comes up with.

>OVEREMOTIONAL HALFLING PALADIN FROM A THEATRE COMPANY WHO HAS SERIOUS BODY IMAGE PROBLEMS

The UA comes out it isn't the Mystic you knowits going to happen.

Well I've been wanting to make a Zealot Barbarian for a while and this gave me my idea.

He's the chosen warrior to save his people and forge a legend but he just wants to be a mercenary and get rich.

I can see how that'd be annoying, yeah.

I might do this, thanks.

Iit was actually pretty awesome. The Bards were a famous band, I was their manager/agent, the Fighter was a bodyguard, and the Monk was a groupie. It was really fun.

I know this was probably discussed already but what do you guys think of the aetherborn? My main gripe is that they don't have construct traits possibly including making healing harder and they didn't build in the empath thing (e.g. having insight instead of having menacing).

Is a Tiefling Dragon Sorcerer a guy with a few too many heritiges?

Perfect fit for Broken Lords/10

How does their drain life ability work if they unlock it, Is there a roll for it or is it impossible to stop?

I think the construct traits could weaken them specifically by making it so they can't use potions and have reduced magical healing.

I'm pretty sure it's an unarmed attack that they're proficient with. They roll to hit and if they hit drain 1d6.

This is 5e brah. Fun and game balance is more important than "MUH (secretly broken) SPECIAL SNOWFLAKE"

Did you go with Inheritor too?

>5e
>game balance

lol okay kid

I was mostly concerned with how on flavor they were designed.

Yes

In my setting I actually have an anti-elemental race going on and I was thinking of allowing Aetherborn in but letting them start with Drain Life.

I kinda want to allow it to count as an Unarmed attack that uses DEX so Rogues and Monks use it. I'm going to make it so they can only regain the Health using it once per turn and only the unarmed attack die, so no sneak attack super heals.

Just go full in on randomization.

Use whothefuckismydndcharacter.com/ like said. Roll for stats. Roll for equipment. Roll for background. Make intelligent decisions based on that (I wouldn't make people both roll for stats and for class). At each level up, Roll 1d20. On Nat 20 (or 1 depending on stigma) you multiclass. Let Fate be your guide.

I would say it's a unique attack action similar to casting a spell where no matter how many attacks you get normally you only make one attempt. Also why not allow sneak attack to be used but in the form of pulling extra life out that you can't absorb or slashing at them with their hands (they are described as clawed). Essentially just bonus damage.

Warforged having construct traits was only relevant due to the significance of Type in 3e. Type is largely insignificant in 5e.

Oh whoops, yeah I was going to allow it with sneak attack. Maybe I should just let them use Necromantic damage with unarmed attacks for monks, I'll think about how to word that.

I want to make them mostly assassins and agents for Wizards in fluff, so that's why I'm trying to make the ability work great for those 2 classes.

Alright, someone make up my mind for me. As a hexblade warlock who doesn't want to use cursebringer, would it be better to use the smites from your expanded spell list, or just stack hex with your hexblade curse and lifedrinker and go to town?

I'm playing a Whisper Bard and planning to dip into Rogue eventually for Assassinate but I'm wondering if I should just take it to 3 or go to 4 for an ASI.

Hexblade 2 / Favored Soul X

Is this a good idea? Warlock 2 / Sorcerer X is pretty strong right?

Not every flavor has to be represent mechanically. You are walking into 3.pf trap if you want to do that.

I'm gonna make a big leap and guess that when you make characters, you're looking solely at things they can do. When you say you make characters ripped from movies or whatever, I'm thinking you're going "ok, he's got this sword so I'll take this sword, he did this thing so I'll take this thing" etc. When you say we'll rounded, I'm picturing you going "ok, half-elf gets these skills, bard gets these skills, and with that I've got two-thirds of the skill list" or when you say edge cases it's something like oh, people say if you take this spell and cast it with this and this it does ridiculous damage, I'll do that.
I may be wrong, as I said I made a leap in logic without all the facts. But if I am correct in these assumptions, or close, then you should try to make a CHARACTER. By that I mean somebody who has an identifiable thought process, somebody who would do something and your party members would say "that's such a ____ thing to do" and don't confuse that with pages of backstory nobody will read or care about that only serves to make things easier through fluff (my wizard is part of of a group that teaches wizards and his spellbook automatically updates with new spells on level up)
A lot of this equates to how you act outside of combat, how you talk to people, etc. For my grouo, a lot of times this means doing something even if it's a detriment to the characters well being, and especially even if everybody around the table knows it's gonna hurt (my fighter has never been scared of the dark before, and he's not gonna start in this shitty dungeon- he's gonna walk on ahead while everybody is struggling with torches. Somebody better talk some sense into him) it also means not necessarily relying on rolls, if you can give an argument in-character and it's persuasive enough, the DM is only gonna make you roll to see how hesitant the person is to go along with you, and not to have the sound of dice fill the void of personality.

5e warforged have construct traits keeping them from needing to eat or drink, not being able to breathe, and having trance.

That's true but having menacing instead of empathy and not being at least partially based on an already made construct race is a definite flaw.

Anyone have any cool stuff like pic related?

if you multiclass sorcerer and warlock, can't you sacrifice warlock spell slots to gain sorcery points and vice versa?

Tasloi
Lung dragons
Living statues
Living steel
Actaeon
Viper tree
Giant squid along with a return to proper gargantuan squid Krakens
Shedu
Greater Medusa (the ones with snake lower bodies)

Doing this means you have to be willing to think about approaching things differently than what meta knowledge may dictate, which sounds like you are otherwise you wouldn't have posted what you did. But what you also need is to be playing in a group that facilitates roleplay, meaning people who will spend a session in town just buying shit, or not argue with you for making a sub-par choice, or who just sit in silence until combat starts. You'll play the way your group plays in order to keep the game going, but if you want to try a new way of playing you may need a new group.

It's also good for a character to have weaknesses, if for no other reason than it lets other characters in the group step forward and have some time in the spotlight. If your fighter is low on wis, or even if you DO have proficiency in medicine checks, but the druid/cleric is higher? Let them step in and stabilize the dying person and your contribution can be a compliment towards them. That's characterization, you can extrapolate on that. It can develop into a thing in the future where your fighter has a deep respect for the healing arts and donates to hospitals or something. That equates to a small character thing you can do that goes arts long way to building an impression the other players have of your character. Another small thing would be describing your actions in fights, or using the environment. Smash things over people's heads, throw them out of windows, whatever- people will think your character is creative and brutal, even if the DM doesn't give you big dice or special effects for your descriptions. user's wizard is such such a show off, always makes big grandiose gestures when they cast spells- user's fighter is so cool, he smashes faces in fights but gives all his money to the poor. It doesn't matter what damage you rolled, they'll remember the words that went with it.