/5eg/ D&D Fifth Edition General

An Awakened Owlbear became an Epic-Level Lich, and now prepares an army of darkness to storm the land and seize ultimate power.

Perfect, the game has been pretty low stakes up to this point so this'll keep them on edge.

Alternatively, its a range[self] wand of fireball, but only an identify reveales that, and you hide it in the item statblock to see if they actually read it.

How can I build an annoyingly difficult to kill character? DM is allowing UA content.

I'm thinking going a dwarf revenant samurai fighter. Go shield+plate and defense fighting style. any suggestions?

Shadow Sorcerer 1, Beararian X. on top of all that.

Yuan-Ti Abjuration Wizard with the Lucky feat and resislience (con) is probably the most versatile.

what about yuan-ti shadow sorcerer 2/abjuration wizard x? metamagic to manipulate spell slots for more uses of shield/absorb elements?

You can pretty much do everything and make the rest of the party redundant at low levels. Your weakness will be damage over range

Look at shadow sorcerer, I don't really think the dip is worth it. If you want to spam shield, that's what arcane recovery is for. And then beg your DM for a ring of spell storing/pearl of power and laugh at your endless abjuration ward. You'd be better off dipping Warlock 2 for the mage armor invocation (saving yourself a spell slot) and short rest spell slots.

>Level 10 Party
>Two Fighters
>Two Casters
the fuck is a fifth wheel

Whoops, posted a thing in an old thread.

As said.
Tell the not-sneaky guys to stay behind and charge in after you're done with your surprise round.
If you're really generous, you might give the guy in heavy armour advantage to cancel out disadvantage as everybody else plays around that guy, giving him pointers before engagement, using him more like a lure and trying to set up a noise so the noise of armour actually sounds like something like a friendly, say by using minor illusion and making it sound like an ally coming along. Or just using pass without trace or making them invisible.
Simply warn them of the risks of taking non-stealthy people into an ambush party beforehand, and non-stealthies can run in after the first round anyway.

That feels completely unfair, though.

>You set up to try shooting the monk
>Okay, he rolled higher. He'll go right after your turn
>What do you do? No, you have to shoot him. No, you can't go AFTER the cleric, even though you've clearly said you want to attack after the cleric buffs you, they have to ready an action which limits their turn.
>Okay, you shoot him, and he catches the projectile and throws it back at you even though he doesn't know you're there. Not that you'd have got assassin's crit because he beat you initiative.
>Now it's his turn.

RAI is 'No backsies' but it's stupid when you can simply say 'Yeah, just don't roll intiative yet, you'll find out what the initiative order is then.'

Skill Monkey, look into Bard or Rogue.

Or Healer if neither of those casters is divine or some retarded broken class like Theurge.

How should I make pic related?
That also isn't a phoenix sorcerer.

Phoenix sorc, faggot

Very debatably light cleric.

A half-caster
In all seriousness though, what is the party's composition? One that is Warlock/Druid/Fighter/Fighter is a very different animal to one that is Cleric/Bard/Rogue/Barbarian.

Draconic sorcerer
Evocation Wizard
Light Domain Cleric (like 70% of their domain spells are fire-related)

Hard Mode: Way of the Four Elements Monk

Aasimar
Light cleric (or pheonix sorcerer...)

Ready action, saying you want to wait until X makes it a readied action.

You can only ready so much.

There are situations where you might want to have an entire turn instead of just a readied action.

Wizard/Bard/Fighter/Barbarian

Do you have sneaky, healing, ranged, melee, control, and support?

Martial/caster isn't the only, or even most relevant, metric.

You DO have a turn, you still have bonus actions and movement, and if the enemy isn't aware, you should prebuff anyway.

You could also go with Pyromancer Sorcerer from the Plane Shift: Kaladesh PDF they put out a few weeks ago, or some form of Warlock, possibly Undying Light and re-fluffing the divine portion as fire.

But honestly, just go Phoenix Sorcerer.

Unless they have Skulker feat, attacking from stealth reveals your location hit or miss

Hum, that is a pretty well balanced party. What archetypes are the Wizard and Bard?
At the moment, I'd recommend Rogue, Druid or Revised Ranger, focusing on skills and exploration, while still being powerful in fights.

Okay explain to me how the NPC turns are taken.

We just got wiped out at level 1 because the GM put 6 orcs against the 4 of us, and it happened like this:

>5 Orcs move up and bundle up around 1 guy. All 5 gains advantage and 1 shots the first guy.
>3 left, we kill the last orc who kept some of us away from the downed PC.
>5 Orcs move on to the next, and despite trying to bundle up, all 5 can move up and more or less surround 1 guy, and then they all attack with advantage again. 1 more dead PC.

We had 0 chances. All 6 orcs moving at once made it impossible, because they were guaranteed to get advantage, and we just didn't have any tools to deal with it at level 1.

GM kept telling us to "play smarter", but I just don't see how this could have played out differently.

It was a Druid, Fighter, Paladin and Rogue. The Paladin was the first to get killed, followed by the Druid.

What class can I go with that can help us through this kind of encounter?

So with the upcoming release of the Yawning Portal book, it brings forth a question I've been wondering for a while, and have been unwilling to do any actual hard work on until recently:

How would you go about converting the, 'Expedition to Barrier Peaks' adventure module to 5th edition? Some of it's already been done for us (there's futuristic weapons in the DMG that can probably be inserted into the module), but it's such a unique encounter that I'm not entirely sure how to stat it out, or what would need updating - besides the stats of the creatures inside, of course.

The situations are very limited, but they mostly require you to take a bonus action, multiple actions (With haste or action surge or the like), an attack action that makes multiple attacks or.. Something like that.

Say you're a fighter and you go first, and the cleric goes second. You want the cleric's bless before you start firing crossbow rounds at range, but you don't want to get closer because you might blow your cover and the cleric can't fire from there, so the cleric decided he'll buff at the start of combat since you're waiting for whenever combat begins, and blessing might tip the target off to your location.

So combat begins.
If it's a fighter and the fighter goes first, they can't ready their action or they'll lose a load of extra attacks, and they can't action surge. So they have to attack before they're buffed, even though the target hasn't seen them yet and they're waiting for a buff.

It might also be some other buff with a duration shorter than a minute. Not sure how many there are.

But you're not attacking because once your turn comes around on initiative you say 'Uhh, actually, considering this guy suddenly gained a fourth sense and can now take reactions and will go right after my turn making this surprise nothing better than me just rolling high initiative, I'll wait to shoot later.'

To add to the suggestions, Warlock or ranged Valor Bard are both good options too.

It depends on
>How Retarded is your Party?

If they are good, at least half of them can into stealth, the 2 casters make good use of their Concentration, everybody has at least a ranged option, and so on, you could make an Arcane Trickster for a 'jack of all trades'.

If they're retarded, a druid has the most resources to fix the party. It's always going to be a bit clunky, but that's your best bet.

Level one is fucking rough, really. At that level ,goblins with shortswords pose an existential threat to everyone. It is also not unusual for DM's to do all the monster turns at once in order to make organization easier. That said, 6 orcs was way too much for a party of 4 at level one and I'm not really sure why they had advantage. Orcs do not normally have pack tactics.

Your DM just hates you.

As long as all the orcs have similar initiatives, they can all ready an action to attack at the same time. Though normally they should just attack.

So your DM decides to throw 6 enemies that all team up on one squishy player at a time which can bring them to instant death by overkill / failed death saves immediately, on fairly strong monsters that can actually move even faster than normal to ensure there's little you can do to escape.

Perhaps the optional flanking rules were in effect here, which let the orcs get advantage?

An Orc can, with a decent roll, one shot anything but a high CON barbarian at level one. Your DM is a dick. Of course, maybe some context is here that I'm missing, like you were meant to avoid them, but it sounds like he just fucked you over for no reason. Them gaining advantage is just stupid, and ganging up is just cruel.

Unless casting bless will reveal you, cast it prior to starting. All the one turn buffs are smites or defensive anyway. If your casting reveals you, it makes sense that the fighter starts to go asap, and doesn't sit still and wait as the enemy moves.

That being said, if a player wanted, when i asked for initiative, to tank his roll to 0, i'd let them.

So of everyone except the buffer wanted 0, they could choose their order, but it would always be after NPCs all go, to let them choose to be reactive, instead of active.

Group initiative is a thing, but is usually used for subgroups of a larger encounter. Using one initiative for an entire party of enemies is unwise.

I'm not sure what the exp allowances look like, but 6 orcs seems a bit too much for level one characters. Might want to go over encounter design with him.

As far as what can counter it, maybe some good wizard control would be effective. But casting sleep on the orcs won't be nearly as effective if you don't go first.

Anyone been able to snag a copy of the Barrowmaze 5E pdf?

For Adventurers League can I play one of the monstrous races like Yuan-ti pureblood?

That'd make sense. Either way user's DM is a dick for throwing that at a level 1 party without giving them a way to prepare.

Yes, all Volo's races are AL legal. However refer to the player's guide for Volo's for the faction restrictions as a Volo's race MUST be in a faction, and which factions you can be a part of are determined by race.

Wizard is Diviner
Bard is Lore, I think; pretty sure they have both cutting words and bardic inspiration, they also use shatter a lot

Where can I find information on the ranger revision? All of my material is from initial release

You can legally, as Volo's is an official splat, but also check with the DM and bring a back up character.

...

Oath of the Ancients paladin gives half damage from spells, +cha to saves and misty steps.

It was a dungeon, we discussed turning back because it seemed like really shitty odds, but the GM told us to not derail the session.

It also meant very confined spaces. We couldn't get a good drop on them, and none of us had good ranged options (or at least we failed to kill even 1 guy) so it wasn't like we had much in terms of options.

And he said we also got advantage from flanking, so I assume we are using flanking rules. It just seems like a pretty overwhelming advantage for the NPCs to move at once, and then attack afterwards. Can we actually replicate that as PCs? Or does that require us rolling the same initiative?

You can't take a reaction until the end of your first turn if you are surprised

It seems kind of unfair that even though they have the ambush advantage they have to take a less optimal sequence.

Sure, it'll almost never show up, but there could be cases where casting a spell will give them away, so they go

'Alright, we'll ambush by.. The cleric will cast a spell, and then we all charge and get them by surprise'
and maybe they were wrong and nobody noticed the spell, but they've already rolled initiative and intiative said that something wasn't going to work.

And, really, you can fix all of this by simply saying 'Just don't roll initiative'.
Because that feels more sensible than 'Once you roll initiative, you can't go back and HAVE to attack regardless of what happens'. It feels less meta and more fluid.
Because, in the end, you're the ones setting up the ambush, not some dice. The dice just tell you if you succeed or not.

Of course, if even a single enemy is NOT surprised at the start of combat, you couldn't pull out of initiative anyway and everyone should just roll initiative as normal as perhaps the fighter has no time to waste now and has to attack before the cleric because somebody's about to spot them.
But if everybody's surprised? There's no logical reason.

Oh cool. Where is that chart from I can't find it in the Players guide, is it somewhere else?

Of course they picked the strongest core archetypes.
Lore Bard pretty much covers all skill monkeying as well as being the face. Between them and the Wizard, you've got all casting needs covered, I'd say. Go Warlock/Sorcerer if you want to be the secondary face and a good damage dealer. Go Druid/Ranger if you like being a secondary skill monkey and explorer, while being decently tanky and hard hitting.
Revised Ranger is a UA thing, that most DMs should allow cause PHB Ranger is awkwardly weak.

Yes, and if you roll a 30 something on your initiative and everybody else rolls initiative below you then you can take a reaction even though you've just been surprised.
Because this guy is somehow faster to react than you even though he doesn't know what he's even reacting to.
And then the assassin can't get crits on him.

Cheers bros, I may just make a phoenix sorc and instigate the firestorm.

hmm, how does a yuan-ti hexblade 1 or 2/shadow sorcerer 1 or 2/oath of ancients paladin x sound? pump CHA and CON real high, go full plate+shield and use a longsword. half dmg vs spells, advantage vs spells, and CHA to saving throws, use shield for 25 AC vs attacks. grab resilient (con), shield master for more defense. if enemies start ignoring me, i just smite them with the spell slots i would have used to protect myself, no to mention i can more liberally use them since i have 2 short rest spell slots.

Would letting a Dual-Wield Ranger make a bonus action attack with his off-hand when he moves his hunter's mark be too powerful? Only when he moves it though, not after he casts it.

It feels like he has to give up his fighting style to be effective and at this point he might as well have chosen archery.

I like to imagine it as when y'all roll initiative that's when everyone jumps out and says boo

>the GM told us not to derail the session
Yeah, he's a bit shit.

But you kinda roll initiative when the rogue says 'Okay, I shoot' but then other people can then somehow go before the rogue.

The rogue might not want to jump out! They might prefer their cozy camp.

Eh you kind of can through the use of prepared actions but PCs don't really need that. The main issue is that your party is martial heavy so your choices are much more restricted. Best bet is to get the druid to cast Entangle to block off one of the tunnels, and then hang as far back from the orcs as you can while shooting them to death. Especially at low levels, you want to focus your fire and make sure enemies die.

Until your druid hits level 3 and gets Spike Growth (which is borderline broken) you have a real lack of control options. Your DM definitely should have tweaked the encounter knowing your party comp.

I was wondering if anyone else thought Spike Growth was ridiculous. In any tight space it just fucks over everything.

Flanking is shit.
'No, you can't use tactics because it's derailing' is shit.
Seriously bad encounter building is shit.
Starting at level 1 is shit, unless you're new, in which case bullying new players with mechanics-abusive enemies is shit.

Your DM is a shit. Abandon shit.

Unless the cleric is noticed, which would vary on spell, stealth, and perception, casting the spell THEN rolling initiative is exactly what i was saying to do. If the spell or its results reveal you, the enemy isn't surprised, roll initiative, your already casting this round Jake.

I've had several teammates use it to just decimate enemies. If they don't have a way to avoid it, it can kill stuff all on its own. 1d4 damage for every 5 feet of movement in difficult terrain? It's crazy good.

>>At1st level
>>A single Orc is 1/2 CR
>>Fight 6 at once
>>Leering idiot DM tells you to git gud

Call him a fucking asshole for throwing you up against shit that would push 4th level characters punch him in the face if he mouths off and walk

When did playable Yuan-Ti become a thing?

Even worse if your whole party as effective ranged options or flying. It's a nightmare to deal with because the Druid and Ranger can both cast it.

But if you know that it might reveal you, you thus want to cast it as combat starts.

Though, technically, you roll intiative once you start doing such actions, probably, and that means that you have to act the turn you cast the combat-related buff. And RAI you can't pull out.

Regardless, it feels like you're cheating the players by forcing them into an order when there's nothing to even be in disorder with since they're prepared. I kind of wonder if they were just too scared to add an extra line and so they shortened the rules.

Volo's.

With the release of Volo's a couple of months ago. They're strong and fun as shit to play.

Why did they get advantage?
As a DM, I'd have either made two groups of 3 or three groups of 2 orcs for initiative.

Additionally, I wouldn't put 6 CR 1/2 creatures up against 4 level 1s

It's compiled from a pdf found here - dmsguild.com/product/197432/Volos-Guide-to-Monsters-A-DD-Adventurers-League-Reference-5e

It's from Volo's guide to monsters. They're like half of the new races in Volo's, AKA pretty OP compared to the PHB races.

>AKA pretty OP compared to the PHB races.

Its really just sneks.

You're not wrong, although to be fair Variant Humans are already OP compared to all the other PHB races anyway due to the way Feats work and how they directly compete with ASIs.

Can you hide somatic components under a cloak or similar?

Sounds like a sleight of hand check to me.

So what's the best way to build a character devoted to Ilmater? I've always had a soft spot for him in D&D. So I was thinking of a Tranquility Monk with a dip in Protection Cleric for some extra healing, warding bond and the ability to give disadvantage on attack rolls against friends.

go dex paladin and smite mummies with the dagger of ilmater

Why was this comic so godamned great?

I really need to find and read it in full again.

Already been done:

dmsguild.com/product/194633/Classic-Modules-Today-S3-Expedition-to-Barrier-Peaks

>5e campaign is ending soon
>told the group I'll be running a modern game next
>mfw my group is going to transition directly into the next game after an event like Drakengard's Ending E, using Call of Cthulhu or Shadowrun as a system
>the corpse of the BBEG will shatter into trillions of molecules, afflicting humans with a maddening, form changing disease
>scientists will experiment with the corpse particles to develop modern magics

Do you think they'd be mad if their characters are gunned down by modern special forces or should I do something different with them? Maybe they're detained and transported for testing or something? Then a new group of protagonists would be the focus

Level one is when combat is the deadliest for PCs
DM used an encounter with XP at twice the deadly threshold
Enemies are more numerous that the party meaning the encounter is harder than the CR suggests
Flanking in combination with using the same initiative means they get free advantage on everything
By the sounds of it there was no way around or to ambush them, and when they considered retreating the DM vetoed it.

Literally only 3 explanations:
1. DM hasn't read the 5e DMG and doesn't know how encounters work
2. DM wanted to kill you
3. DM has

Why delete the old characters? You could have the Apocalypse Event warp reality so that the world's history and reality is changed, and their characters start from scratch knowledge-wise but occasionally have to deal with visions from before The Event.

One big reason is to avoid differences between systems and avoiding things that don't translate between the two. Stuff like "wahh my CoC average guy can't hurl boulders or throw meteors" and stuff

Another is having fresh blood in the group. Some are ready to wrap up their character arcs and start something new.

Finally, the characters are going to fight the BBEG, an old one that they wouldn't even be able to comprehend were it not for an artifact from before time. Its tasked with watching over the universe and timelines, so when they down it, they might have some kind of revelation about the universe that changes them. Having this information locked away in their old characters is something I could use in the future if needed, and I really like having plot devices I can utilize in the future if I hit a bump in the road.

Why not start at level 3?

How do you stat seal? My druids turns into one

Stat a dog that can't walk

During boss fight in last session my Norse-themed Barbarian died and was reincarnated by the party's Druid. Now he became a young and good-looking (14 CHA) Orc girl, similar to picrelated, but even thicker and more muscular - over 2m tall, 160kg of pure muscle and fury. At the beginning of the next session he is going to wake up in his new body. And he'll be pissed off beyond belief.

Tell me about your reincarnation-related shenanigans, Veeky Forums.

Then don't have them killed, have them abducted by [X] Agency/Group and thrown in a hole, then throw away the hole.

Then the new characters can always find them as a plot device to find out more about what happened.

I wouldn't call variant humans OP. They're just so generally damn good since they can apply themselves to anything, which is what humans are supposed to be.

They're less ridiculous once you remove compulsory weapon feats.

'We thought gnomes were stupid so we made a race that one-ups gnomes at everything' - the race.

That's probably what I'll end up doing. At most an accompanying NPC would get gunned down due to him being a retarded murdermachine

Can someone give me some advice on building and playing a barbarian? I normally only play casters so I have no idea how to make an effective build. I want him to be some sort of monster hunter that wants to focus on the biggest threat in any encounter.

Only use published character options please, my DM doesn't allow UA or homebrew. Multiclassing and using feats are fine though.

youtube.com/watch?v=a6BbvCC0VI0

High Strength and Con, play as a beefy race(half orc, goliath, etc.), and go at it son