/5eg/ D&D Fifth Edition General

Reading the whole thing is helpful, but not really required. Just make sure you're prepared for the immediate session, as well as likely detours the players may make. This is easier in some adventures (like CoS), than others (SKT).

... I'm running one and I think it's pretty good

Wait so is political intrigue difficult to do or something? I've done it before and my players love it.

If I have a reach bonus thanks to Primeval Ranger tree mode, Can I grapple things 10 feet away?

So can anything be eked out of the ranger's ability to cast self spells on himself and his beast simultaneously?

Darkness from Drow. Ring of Spellstoring shenanigans should you come across one; Greater invisibility, resilient sphere, haste

Thinking of making a setting where all the dead gods from other settings ended up in much weaker then before. The catch is people in the setting went all their history without god ruling over them and instead revere their ancestors who grant them divine magic.

Long story short I want this to end with a bunch of cultist, celestials and fiends fighting armies of pissed off peasants and adventurers. Is this a good idea or a little bit too fedora tier?

I probably placed the phylactery inside of the kid, I mean who's gonna kill a kid right?
>fuckin murder hobos go away

you gotta wonder about all these liches who are so fucking stupid, naive, and trusting, and having such unshakeable faith in goodness that they think their enemies won't kill a kid to stop them

why would liches even know or care about 'goodness' or think that good enemies are so superior to neutral and evil ones that it'd be them who would come to stop him?

sauce

Would the knights of solamnia and the wizards of high sorcery be better used as archetypes paladins and wizards or factions like the order of the gauntlet and the harpers?

I need to think of 4 magical macguffins with an Undead theme for the party to quest for

>Knights of Solamnia
Factions. The original, AD&D knights actually had normal fighters, paladins and 1e Cavaliers.

>Wizards of High Sorcery
As far as I know they were definitely a way to explain how a dark age world had book wizards, so wizards. They're basically a monastic order.

do the macguffins have to have powers on their own or do they have to have to have some combined effect?

The Lich Kings' Crowns

Four separate crowns owned by four different Lich kings.
1. Crown of Bones
A crown made out of bones with a single eyeball at the front, the eyeball is said to meet eyes with anyone who looked directly at it, even with several people looking at it. The crown is imbued with the magical power of the Lich who once wore it. Any undead that look toward the wearer of the crown must make a DC 16 saving throw or be under the control of the person who wears the crown. If the undead has an INT of 4 or more, it makes this saving throw with advantage and at an INT of 12 or more, it can repeat it's saving throw at the end of each of it's turns. If a creature passes its saving throw against the Crown, it is immune to the effect for 1 hour.

"Lesser undead bow at the sight of the Crown of Bones for the essence of their master still lingers within it's marrow."

2. Crown of Flesh
This crown appears like a ring of stiff, rotting flesh with sharp nails and claws sticking out the top like spikes. Whomever wears the crown feels the flesh adjust itself around their head to make a perfect fit. The wearer of the crown feels an odd, foreign energy fill their body. The first time a person puts on the crown, the must make a DC 12 Constitution saving throw. On a failure, they take 3d10 necrotic damage and the crown slides off their head, falling to the ground. On a successful save, the user takes no damage and gain the following benefits:

>The wearer has immunity to necrotic damage.
>At the start of the wearer's turn, if their hit points is less than their CON modifier+their character level, they restore just enough hit points to reach that threshold. You cannot use this feature if you've taken fire damage or radiant damage within the last minute.
>You have vulnerability to radiant damage.

cont.

What do you guys plan out before DMing a campaign, if anything?

Do you focus on geography? World building? Plot hooks? Is there anything you don't plan and wing later?

I'm playing in a campaign at the moment but want to DM when it ends (partly to show my DM that players shouldn't have to try to beat the DM to have fun) and I console myself with adding tidbits here and there. Not for railroading purposes, just to add piles and piles of plothooks and puzzles and the like.

Just wondering what it might be worthwhile adding in addition. Statblocks?

>do the macguffins have to have powers on their own or do they have to have to have some combined effect?

It don't matter

Does anyone have some level one character sheets for me? I wan to run a combat encounter by myself in preparation for DMing for the first time and I want to use characters I don't know how to play.

Can I get a quick rundown on what makes D&D 5e stand out from other systems and how good combat is?
I've heard that in the lower levels, player characters die super fast

Knights of Solamnia were almost certainly in line with Devotion & Crown.

>The original, AD&D knights actually had normal fighters, paladins and 1e Cavaliers.

Nah, they were their own subclasses.

White and black mages definitely had distinction (abjuration and necromancy), can't really remember what the deal was with the red ones.

Childhood Destruction Hentai, Big Red Riding Hood and the Little Wolf.

It's not as caster-heavy as previous editions. Combat-wise, it's fairly balanced, giving players different options for tackling enemies without having to resort to tried-and-tested mechanics.

Its main draw over other systems is that because it's fairly basic it's not too hard to homebrew bits and pieces - or that it's simple enough to pick up for someone new to the system.

Players don't die to any great extent more than anywhere else, as long as they're not stupid and murderhoboy.

(btw if any of these are too powerful for your party you can nerf them or simply make them neat but useless baubles until they collect all 4 or some shit)

3. Crown of Death
The crown looks like a lower jaw made out of a black metal. Red gems decorate the headpiece, with an especially large one in the front. Whenever the crown is worn, the wearer hears quiet, hushed whispers in their head, telling them to kill. As a bonus action, the wearer can unleash the crown's necrotic power. The wearer takes 5 necrotic damage whenever the crown is activated and at the start of each turn while it's still activated. As an action on each of your turns, you can fire a bolt of pure necrotic energy toward a creature within 60 ft. That creature must make a Dexterity saving throw (DC 19). On a failure, the target takes 6d6+10 necrotic damage, or half as much on a successful one. If this attack kills the creature, the wearer of the crown gains 10 temporary hitpoints. The necrotic power lasts for 1 minute. The crown can't be reactivated until a good-aligned creature's blood is spilled onto the crown at midnight. It must be a different creature's blood each time. Using the same creature's blood again angers the dark energies hidden within the crown. Every creature within 30 ft of the crown must make a DC 19 dexterity saving throw, taking 3d6 necrotic damage on a failed save and half as much on a successful one.

>what makes D&D 5e stand out from other systems and how good combat is?

the main thing is that it works really well with mismatched CRs and you can pit stronger and weaker combatants together comfortably without the math shitting itself, and it has a full nine level spell progression like in older editions but HP is the main way of disabling foes like in 4e

But the Knights were just that, knights, they were fighters, they didn't have divine magic or lay on hands

1st-3rd levels yeah, if they have shit plans and or shit rolls.

They're 5th level they can suck it up or they can die

Combat is fast
Rules are relatively simple
Fairly balanced in the core book, especially compared to older D&D editions. Only a few sinker options.
Easy for new players to pick up
Most players don't end up feeling left out as long as you have a competent DM

>But the Knights were just that, knights, they were fighters, they didn't have divine magic or lay on hands

What? No, what's up with this revisionist bullshit? They were magic paladin types, you would start off with the more mundane Knights of the Crown and upgrade to the spellcasting Knights of the Sword. You could upgrade to the Knights of the Rose later, but I have no idea what their thing was in 1e.

What's a good CN creature that could, hypothetically, hitch a ride with some Slaad through a bend in the planes?

If my players wanna kill eachother should I just let them? I don't really give a shit but it's probably gonna piss someone off irl. True neutral rogue is trying to turn the group against the lawful good paladin which has the group split in half. What do?

I'd just let it happen, but this shit happens for two reasons imo.

1. The DM didn't set up a clear hierarchy of who's in charge and reasons for the PCs to obey a party leader.
2. There aren't clear consequences for imploding into internecine conflict.

>yes, #1 is gonna piss people off here

wasd20 /// search on youtube

4. Crown of Undeath
The Crown of Undeath is made of an unknown material, white as bone with black runes etched into it. As the user puts on the crown, a faint ringing can be heard in their ears, which finally ceases once the crown is firmly upon their head. While wearing the crown, you gain the following benefits:

>You are considered undead while wearing the crown.
>You gain resistance to necrotic, cold, and poison damage. You also are immune to the charmed, exhaustion, paralyzed, and poisoned conditions.

Your appearance also changes to be more undeathly. Your skin may become incredibly pale, look rotted, or you may suddenly age dramatically. The changes are reverted when you take off the crown.

In addition, all undead creatures within 30, including the wearer, have advantage on all saving throws, gain a +2 bonus to AC, deal 2d8 extra necrotic damage whenever they hit with a melee attack, and their hit point maximum increases by 10.

Don't force them not to - any time you remove player agency is you being a poor DM.

However, you should give them significant reasons not to turn on each other. Present them with a problem which requires both paladin and rogue to solve so they have to live in a stalemate.

Nice, though is there a particular reason to not give plain immunity to poison damage? Seems like you may as well.

Thanks. I'm really digging these

I guess you're right. I'm just sort of making these up on the fly.
Thanks! Was just kinda bored and decided to help an user out.

Oh they have a hierarchy and the paladin is the only one who's not autistic as fuck, making him the leader. I told the rogue he'll probably end up dead and quite possibly make the campaign undoable if he goes through with it but he wants to take his chances.

Yeah but that's you as the DM talking. I'm suggesting something more immediately practicable - like the paladin being the only one able to wield a blade that can kill the BBEG or something.

Huh, I like the idea I'll give it a shot thanks.

Maybe nick the Grey Wardens idea from Dragon Age - only a Grey Warden can kill the Archdemon permanently, but it kills the Warden in the process.

Gives the rogue a reason to let the paladin live, 'cause he knows he both needs him and that the paladin will die taking the BBEG down, and fits into any standard LG Paladin anyway.

Plus amps up the level of grim-epic questing.

Is there any spell or other default process for making an atmosphere breathable?

My only experience with Dragonlance was the books, and I dont ever recall Strum doing anything paladiny except for his code of morals

hey everyone, just wanted to do a little survey,
What's your favorite 5e adventure so far? and why? what do you like/dislike about it as both a gm and player and what kind of things do you wanna see more of in future releases? keen to hear all thoughts

strawpoll.me/12485925

>PotA
Pretty good and easy to dm. Gets confusing towards the end and could've used a bit more clarity.
>Hoard of the Dragon Queen
Actual garbage. Poorly written, confusing, and a pointless shit story
>Storm King's Thunder
Best so far. Easy to understand. Compelling story. Lots of fucking around in the open world before actually doing anything productive which is always fun.

Ah ok. Suffice to say, they seem to be cavaliers with weaker stat prereqs, 2d10 starting hit dice, and a level cap like monks.

Many knights would probably go straight on through to the more prestigious Rose order without ever getting any interesting spells, but yeah they're their own class.

im running SKT at the moment and i just got to chapter 3 with my group and i have no idea how to run it. they give you 100+ locations but how do I actually implement them? chapter 2 ends with the party getting like 4 or 5 missions, so do i run the encounters while my PCS are on the way to do the chapter 2 missions?
my only other experience GMing was with rise of the runelords and that was hell linear but i liked it for that.
any advice??

>Hoard of the Dragon Queen
This was really disappointing, made all the more baffling by Wolfgang and Kobold Press' pedigree. Guess they too are a spawn of nepotism and not actual talent.

So how I did it was let them run around doing quests and going wherever it takes them while fighting monsters and finding a few magic items along the way. You can do this for like 5 sessions atleast. Once they start getting bored start pushing them north until they get to whatever town they encounter Harshsnag in and that will take them to the main quest.

Alteration: Red only.
Abjuration: White only.
Conjuration/Summoning: Red, white may use conjuration, black may use summoning.
Divination: All.
Enchantment/Charm: White and black.
Evocation/Invocation: White and red.
Illusion/Phantasm: Red and Black.
Necromancy: Black, of course.

So loosely speaking, I'd say -- white would typically map to Abjurer, black to Necromancer, and red to Transmuter.

Let them if it's because of IC motivations, stop them if it's OOC drama messing with the game.

one of my friends is about to DM a game, and i can finally play for the first time

I want to play a low combat utility guy, a detective maybe. I want all the skills

should i roll a rogue or a bard ? why ? how ?

tell me some neat tricks i can do with both pls

Rogue Inquisitive with Investigator background
Variant Human with Skilled feat

inquisitive is UA ? i meant to say, core books only :\

Mastermind, then.

Are you french? Also I'd play a Thief

Has anyone got a source for "Complete Adventures of M.T. Black Vol. I" from dmsguild?

You should be a Diviner wizard, pick Investigation as one of your class skills

no im slovak, the reason for Core books only is all my friends are new-ish to dnd, involving UA would just make their heads spin

Huh I thought the French were the only people who put spaces before question marks. Thief's honestly one of the funnest most classically rogue and skillmonkey types.

> spaces before question marks
sorry, bad habit.. i know

but bard gets +prof bonus to all skills :( yet again not many useful class abilities

Really comes down to if you'd want to be a caster or a martial. Thieves get less versatility but still a ton, even better at focused skills, Sneak Attack which everyone loves and that cool "Who needs magic" vibe. Bard's are like a rip off rogue who needed magic.

Also I'm a sucker for Climb Speeds.

for my next campaign, i have hashed things out with my dm where my character will be oj simpson who was sent through a portal during court proceedings to the setting where the campaign will take place.

what class should i have him be?

Rogue/Fighter

grapple barbarogue

Is it possible to make a good thrown weapons character?

What class and feats should I be looking at? I kinda want a javelin focused character.

Hello fellows

Do anyone know of a good list of magic items, preferably custom made, with a lot of variety that isn't just "add more damage"?

I am looking for more inspiration for cool shit to throw at my players.

Is Harshnag the best bro?

Without a doubt a 10/10 bro

helm of teleportation

This item teleports to the head of a creature every morning in a 300 ft radius

>List
>One item
>Reading comprehension

have it be cursed to teleport the head of a creature every morning in a 300ft radius

Yeah I understood what you meant dude. But the post you were responding to was asking for _A LIST_ of magic items. Not ideas for single magic items.

ok

a solid gold eclair that can cast charm person if you trick someone into trying to take a bite out of it

a shrunken goblin head that depletes the owner of 1 gold for every day that they possess said shrunken head

bag of molding
like a bag of holding but smells terrible

there's your list

strawpoll.me/12483412

I'm actually quite happy about how this one's gone. Pretty even spread, lots of diversity in opinion.

Except Protection Domain. People really hate that one, huh?

How so?

Google "Magnificent Magical Items". There's some neat stuff in there, and some more of the same.

Tell them they don't need a DM to be jerks to each other, just roll initiative and the player whose character dies has to leave your gaming group permanently.
Then you leave the room and do something fun instead, like scrub a toilet.

>Geniunely not getting the message in 2016+1

>Necromantic Earring of Eternal Debt
An earring used by a BBEG to enslave an innocent kid to do his bidding.

Comes from a setting where revive spells is out, Wish can allow you to revive once, and then never again, anything else that revives, has a very steep penalty to it.

This was one of them. These can be attached to a dead body, which immediately comes back to life. The target can never make an action of any kind that would directly or indirectly harm the owner of the earring (can be more than 1, changed with a 1 hour ritual as long as no one is wearing the earring. Furthermore, the earring is immune to any attempts at dispelling the magic is contains.

The bearer must remain within 200 meters of 1 of the owners, and going outside will make them unable to use any spells, make them sick, and gradually makes them feel worse and worse, until they are just a bundle of suffering.

The owner can issue Commands as per the spell, but as a free talking action every turn, it has no restrictions, and doesn't allow saves. It works even if the bearer cannot hear the owner.

See, my players are psychopaths, so when they found it, 2 of them (Fighter and a Warlock) immediately attuned to it, because "might come in handy".

Turns out the poor Bard, who was super afraid of the earring, got killed during the fight against the necromancer who originally created the earring. The players found records of how the earring worked, and immediately put them on the Bard.

They have had a lot of fun with it so far. The Bard, not so much. Mostly tormenting her as much as possible, make that poor Lawful Good kill innocents because "lol" and generally make it terrible go be alive again.

>Magic items for evil characters
Reminds me of the Bag of Emptiness my party found. They lost a lot of stuff thinking it was a bag of holding.

Anything dropped into the bag disappears after it is closed. Once opened, it looks like an ordinary bag, just empty.

The thief in the party had ransacked many homes with this. When caught outside, usually because he likes the reaction, they check him out, find nothing, hold him for a day or two, and the let's him leave, because the stolen goods weren't there.

Thank you!

whats the point of stealing if you dont keep any of it?

Here are a few more

>sphere of slope
Can detect an incline on almost any surface when placed on it

>ring of invisibility
Becomes invisible whenever the user wears it

>Mug of unending piss
When you drink frim this mug any liquid you put in it becomes an unending supply of whichever liquid you are thinking of at the moment, it also constantly sends out telepathic pings consisting of just the word "piss"

>The legendary sword, folded over 10,000 times
An asian-looking longsword that bends whenever it strikes another sword

>Circlet of Intellectuallism
While wearing this circlet the user becomes convinced only his views are right and will argue for them regardless of how wrong they actually are

>The Dwarven Rower
A hammer that doubles the user's proficiency bonus when operating rowboats in caves

>Belt of Hill Giant's Stench
Any creature that begins its turn within 10 feet of the wearer must pass a constitution saving throw or move as far away as it can. It makes everyone within 10 feet hostile

>Bracers of Arcery
While wearing these braces the user becomes intuitively aware of when the current story arc's climax is reached

>Cloak of Elven Kindness
While wearing this cloak the user is considered to be charmed by every elf they see, and must treat them all with utmost kindness

>Black Razor
A straight razor with a blade as dark as midnight, while the user holds it they hear whispers in their mind in a friendly jive voice, asking about how the family is doing and generally making pleasant conversation

>Necklace of Fiery Balls
As an action the user may remove a pearl from the necklace and throw it at another creature. Make a ranged spell attack, if successful the creature's pubic hair turns red

>Post of Pedantry
Can provide mild amusement, but loses its effects after two lines. Regains 1 charge when Black Razor is mentioned.

Being a massive asshole.

I was just about to call him a faggot, and now I am just laughing.

Good job sir.

So did the wotc dnd team do a panel recently?

I was just trying to make a joke but I guess that's frowned upon around here

> People in West March campaign think knowledge cleric is one of the weakest domain

Why? Don't they enjoy infomation?

Not frowned upon. Just judged by harsh standards and subject to counter-jokes.