/5eg/ Fifth Edition General: Cliff House Edition

i mean you can stymie that as a DM by having them stick to the tenants of the Oath or turn them oathbreaker and then lose the benefits.
that the whole point of Paladin Oaths isnt it, rewards for roleplay.

Someone posted a crafting system earlier that uses INT checks only.

Kinda odd that it makes Wizards and Rouges the best crafters...

Wizards since they're likely to get 20 INT before anyone else, and Rouges because past level 10 they can't roll less than a 21.

Any ideas to make this a bit less unfair?

Have different tools based on different stats.

Solves Wizards, but what about the Rouges thing? Just DM fiat that they can't use that feature?

I'm not sure why you want that. Rogues being able to contribute in more ways is good. They are a really plain class otherwise.

I mean Rogues don't naturally get a tool usage except maybe as background. If they want to spend expertise on a tool that's their business.

Eh, it's more that I don't see why, fluff wise, they'd be so good at crafting, but these mechanics make them good crafters anyway.

Playing a Lore Wizard.

Never played a full caster in 5e, and haven't played one since my Cleric way back in 3.5.

What sort of spells do you like grabbing? List is a bit daunting and I don't wanna bog myself too heavily in damage based spells due to the limit per day and what not. Just seeing what sort of "builds" you guys like to go.

Well, if you look at the name "rogue" sure, but if you look at the features "expertise" it makes sense.

Besides, the guy that's really good with a knife being able to carve nice shit as a hobby, or being good with all kinds of small tweezers and shit being able to do jewelry makes a certain amount of sense.

Doesn't matter, you get all spells at level 14.

Lore Master is for faggots, play a Diviner

but I wanna do Necrotic Ball or cool guy Lightning Knife

Nah, but for real, why do you recommend playing Diviner over it? Have more fun in your experience?

>you can free and ally with an empyrean in Against the Giants

Then sit back and wait for this CR 23 creature to annihilate everything. How did this nigga even get captured in the first place

Diviner just has a really dool unique feature.

Lore Master is "Hey sorcerer, you know that cool metamagic thing you have, HAHAHA NOPE MINE!"

Welcome to ancapistab

So I'm playing a Hexblade and at level 5 I have to take and Thirsting Blade and Improved Pact Weapon, at level 9 I'll have to pick up Thirsting Blade.

Other then those three what are some good Invocations? I don't need armour and I have plenty of skills so I'm wondering if there's anything I can't live without.

I'm playing a Diviner in my current game - their Portent feature is really fucking good. Would definitely recommend trying it out.

>charisma doesn't make sense for AC
Force of personality so strong enemies are subconsciously influenced into being less capable of hitting you. It's magic.

Wait so what level characters should embark on the Tomb of Horrors?

I posted this in last thread but didn't get a reply: a hobgoblin faction is secretly led by a dragon seeking to use their army to gain mass territory. Only the top generals know.

Does blue or green dragon make more sense? Blue seems to like having minions and such, though they are far from the desert. Green is focused on trickery and deceit which kind of makes sense. Reds are probably too prideful to use an army in secret

Nothing you can't live without, but Darkness + Devil's Sight is always a good combo for bladelocks of all kinds, especially since you can tag Hexblade's Curse in for Hex and use concentration for Darkness instead.

Green, although most dragons would be open about it from pride

If we were to rate the schools based on power, it'd be

>Loremaster
>Illusionist
>War Wizard
>Theurge
>Conjurer
>Abjuration
>Necromancer
>Evoker
>Enchantment

I've had the most fun with a conjurer, an illusionist, and _so far) War Wizard. Haven't done Evoker/Necromancer cuz that shit is just retarded.

I suppose black works as well as long as I make it clear that their emperor is cruel and hard to them, though honestly it mostly seems to be between blue and green. Green seems like more of a political enemy and blue likes to hold power and fight tactically

I'd rather use Elemental Weapon over Darkness. The Attack bonus and damage are good.

Is One with Shadows any good? I feel like it the Advantage it could give me could be pretty good but the fact I can't even move slowly is a bitch.

So you have NO IDEA what you're talking about, but felt the need to advertise that to everyone anyway? Ok.

Where's the diviner?

So, I've recently gotten out of the first fight on my lvl 3 bladelock.
My character is already a fiend patron and, being a mercenary, tend to rely and appreciate his gifts quite a lot. I was thinking of making him into a cultist type of deal by multiclassing into Cleric.

Is this a terrible idea or naw?
Character and flavor-wise I really want to make it work.

> Any dex user
> would have 13 STR for paladin
> 3 level dip

>Enchanter is lowest

You wot? Conjurer and Evoker are the lowest. Conjuration has some really nice utility but it's pretty weak. Also worth noting Evoker has some nice abilities it's just they suck ass on a Wizard.

Enchantment has an at-will shut down at level 2, they can also Concentrate on spells while doing it. Plus the level 6 is brutal unless you're fighting something with a good Wisdom Save.

>Character and flavor-wise I really want to make it work

That is all you need. Fuck it, do it.

I have a big revelation for you.
You can be cultist without multiclassing into Cleric.

Class name can frame your thinking, but you don't need to be X Class to represent your character.

It'll work good. If you want it for Flavor reasons then go for it man.

It's also quite good mechanically. War Cleric gives you 2 spells, all armour and depending on your wisdom the ability to make a bonus action attack 1-3 times per rest.

Fuck it I'm going for it, chief.
Just need to figure out which Domain would fit the best for him. He tends to enjoy being somewhat flashy in the thick of battle since he works a lot off of intimidate.

Luckily I have pretty good wisdom since our DM told us to roll stats in order, so that might help a bit.

I need marked and numbered DM versions of TftYP maps

Aye, I am well aware of this, it's just thematically more appealing when the character becomes a man of "faith" both in outlook and attitude aswell as mechanically.

War domain does sound pretty interesting.
Especially since I ended up with a whopping +0 dex mod due to rolling stats in order. Sitting at a sick 11 AC at lvl 3.

Playing a Wu Yen, character has a family he sends letters to regularly. DM kills the family off.

Ouch. What's your Wisdom? I'm assuming a 14ish?

War is most likely the best without going into the Weird territory. Forge Cleric is obviously awesome but I wouldn't go to that level of multiclass fuckery.

> rolling for stats
Your whole campaign is already a terrible idea. Do whatever you want.

Wisdom ended up at a 16, which I'm pretty happy about.

Aye, I was considering either Tempest or War seeing how he functions in fights, either would fit fairly well.

> Mom and Dad aren't retired adventurers
> Neighbour isn't retired adventurers
> Your Elven grandfather isn't retired adventurer
> Your dog isn't retired true polymorphed Wizard

Have some fail safe against DM.

Make sure to discuss with DM about somatic component and free hand.

Depends on your DM and your personal tastes. In terms of combat, it's limited unless you're relying on opportunity attacks, because you're sacrificing an action one turn just for advantage on the next, and there are plausibly easier ways to get advantage. Plus, you have to be in some sort of dark anyway, so it's possibly a bit too situational. I'd say it's more for stealthy stuff, but you can probably make it work.

As for elemental weapon, yeah, it scales better and deals more damage. You're squishier than with Darkness, but it's a matter of taste, so fair enough.

You seem to have neglected the small part of having to do it in order.
We have a fighter with a whopping 12str, and the campaign started us off in a prison with us being below poverty-level and having no possessions at all.

Not sure why Veeky Forums is so aversed towards rolling stats in the first place when this is probably as close to hardmode I've played yet since we've got far from good stats for what we're aiming for with our characters.

So I just heard I'll be DM-ing an AL adventure for the first time at my local store soon. Do you guys have any advice for me or any recommend reading besides the adventure itself? I don't know which one yet.

No worries, I always check with my DM before making any decisions. But thanks for the heads up!

Make sure to kill as many tryhard assholes as possible

It not fair. It create a nonfuctional character which isn't fun. It increase workload for DM to balance the game around.

And many more.

They were the characters father was a Wu Yen, the mother was a druid.

>no graphics provided for tomb of horrors

I'll have to print off S1 graphics sheesh

The father was a Wu Yen the mother a druid.

Playing a Warlock (Not sure about the pact yet) for the first time ever. I like Warlocks design but honestly have an issue with how... edgy all warlocks naturally seem. I'm sure it's just lingering feelings because they really don't have to be in this one, I know.

Can someone give me some good examples for the least edgy pact possible? I'm talking about a guy who's all smiles and patting puppies. Thinking either Hexblade, Raven or Undying.

One idea I had was a Dwarf and the head of his clan was the powerful Ghost of his Great, Great Grandmother. She likes taking care of the young dwarves and money. He really loves the money side of it.

I guess the only answer is to kill your DM parents.

Or make a lich, fiend or dragon doting grand parents.

Hexblade is necessarily weirdly edgy, but has the strongest mechanics. Raven Queen can go either way, likewise Undying.

Fey is probably the least edgy.

To be honest, though, you can make anything work as long as you don't steer into it too deeply. Just be a character interested in learning about the universe with no regard for their own safety.

Undying Light or Fey.

Go for a Tome pact fey patron halfling for a cute magical girl.

And that affects Veeky Forums in what way?
If someone decides that rolling stats in order is the right way to go, and it doesn't affect you in any way, why go on a witch hunt against it?

All three of those pacts tend to be fairly edgy.
The closest you have to "happy-go-lucky" would probably be either fae pact or great old one.
And the great old one is more smiling and happy-go-lucky due to lingering insanity.

I see nothing wrong with this, in one campain our most powerful character was a warlock with 12 charisma and had no equipment.

Go Hexblade.
Say, a farmer's lad who picked up an intelligent Holy Avenger blade, who's disappointed that you're not a paladin, but is "willing to work with what he's got."

He tries to teach you how to be the most paladin-like warlock out there.

Undying is a farm boy who was charmed by a powerful Vampire. 4 years of faithful service and she felt bored with how he was still desperately in love with her, so she made a pact with him and sent him out to become the greatest hero in the land to win her heart.

Now she doesn't have to deal with him and gets to observe his antics. He's thinks he's a might hero who's trying to win the heart of a princess, and that's what you told the party as well.

Also Hexblade while weirdly edgy is easy to refluff as a more martial Warlock in service to any of the other patron options.

It does affect us when stats roller came crying in here and whine "what do I with my shit stat Veeky Forums senpai!!".

Nothing says a Great Old One has to be evil after all.
You serve a monstrous thing from outside creation... who happens to like helping people out. Maybe it even wants to have a tea party.
They may be a friend to the Flumphs.

Any level is good.

And you can just elect to ignore that person or hide his post.
But from what I am gathering, you're vehemently against it just because it inconveniences you whenever said people might need help and decides to ask Veeky Forums?

Well, what a world we live in.

REEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

I always like the use of characters' ignorance to avoid edge. The GOOlock who just thinks they're an arcane researcher. The Fieldlock Magical Girl whose Transformation Dress whispers sweet nothings in their ear about how they're powerful and can save the world.

Just like how you can choose to hide and ignore anime girl poster in /pfg/ right?

People occasionally need help from different aspect of the game is fine.

It isn't fine when you can prevent those problem with a simple "don't roll for stat like an idiot".

>The GOOlock who just thinks they're an arcane researcher.
Turns out the GOO doesn't know either.

Eventually it finds out and has to send a message to the other GOOs. "Uh, so it turns out I have warlocks. You may want to get yourself tested."

Again, you're still saying that you don't want to be inconvenienced.
That's pretty much the only thing we've established thus far.

Now I don't care whether or not you're shallow enough to hold that view, but don't try to pass it off as some form of board-wide epidemic that hurts everyone.

Something else to note is that in this current situation, there wasn't even someone asking for help with rolled stats.
It was merely mentioned and you still decided to aggressively witch hunt.

What's the fairest, funnest way to determine stats?

There's always so much argument in these threads and everyone seems to have a different opinion.

I rolled for mine (not in order) but ended up with something I could roughly have got with point-buy, but I feel more like I got something out of the experience by adding a hint of chance into it.

I'm going to DM at some point in the future, but what seems the least offensive way to get my players to start? I'm leaning towards "roll, but if you don't like your starting stats and I don't like your starting stats, you point-buy." to keep the chance but keep it from being ridiculously good or bad.

So I have this character idea but don't have a class or class combo that I'd really like to play him as.
The character is an aaorcora (don't remember how to spell it) who has been hobbled. His wings are bound by ritual chains or stones to his back that keep him grounded, or have been broken badly and the rest is more for show, for some transgression among his people he is now stone-bound. Thats the basic concept and I like it, but not sure what class I'd want play with it, don't care much if the class is and UA's are allowed. just looking for class suggestions.

2d6+6 works well.

How do I minmax this as hard as possible? I want to make people give up when they see my character sheet.

Censored so none of you fa/tg/uys can show up and ruin my fun.

What weapon is the most... Vampirey?

Depends what his motivation is.

Wants to fly again? Wizard.
Has been humbled by the experience and wants to pursue some form of redemption? Paladin.
Wants revenge at any cost? Warlock.

A butchering knife to defeat stake.

Halfling Lucky Diviner. Just cast bullshit Enchantment spells until they fail their save and spam Firebolt.

You're not gonna make anything stupid good at 6th level.

I'd probably build a Battlemaster or Vengance Pally with GWF and a Greatsword going on intuition, but I doubt those are actually the best for this.

A Bear Totem Barb is going to be very hard to kill. You're gonna have as many attacks as any other martial at this point, so you're good there. Just stack CON to max out your HP and AC and soak damage while surgically killing wounded enemies in melee. It will be a sleeper build tho.

Probably Frenzy barb.

You get 3 attacks and immunity to fear, charm and resistance to physical damage

Assuming you heal after each encounter

I just played a wizard so dont want to do that agian, already have 1 maybe 2 paladins so warlock seems fun, havent played much of them really.

Ok, can someone explain to me why the commandment "Thou shall not roll for stats" is so common in /5eg/ ?

Tempest Cleric's pretty good at 6. Anyone who hits you in melee gets pushed way back and you can Maximise Lightning or Thunder Damage twice.

Take PAM so people are punished for getting close before getting the pushback and use Shatter/Thunderwave/Call Lightning to hit people at range.

strawpoll.me/12622026
strawpoll.me/12622028
strawpoll.me/12622029

Polls for each of the archetypes in the latest UA.

A healthy set of teeth.

Because it's not fun to be the guy who's every stat is below 10 sitting next to the guy who rolled every stat over 16. It's not hard to figure out.

Nice

Comprehensive rules:
The tournament will be conducted using Dungeons and Dragons 5th edition rules and the following character creation rules apply:
- Only character options from the Player's Handbook are allowed (No Unearthed Arcana, Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide, Volo's Guide to Monsters, or Elemental Evil Player's Companion). This includes spells. Player's Handbook errata will be enforced.
- Your character must use the standard array of stats (15, 14, 13, 12, 10, 8), before racial modifiers are applied
- Your character must be of level 6, including levels from all classes (ie. Cleric 6, Fighter 2/Druid 3/Bard 1, etc.)
- You may use the variant human race
- You may use feats
- You may choose any background, including variants, but note that if you choose the Knight Noble variant, your retainers will not be joining you in the arena. They will be cheering from the stands.
- Use the starting equipment from your class at first level, plus the equipment given to you by your background. The starting gold given to you by your background may be used to purchase additional equipment

Starting stats are much more important in 5e than anytime since AD&D. If you get the short straw it's gonna suck for a long time.

It's more fair to everyone to go with a set array (doesn't have to be the one in the book) or a point buy.

All that said, I prefer rolling. As long as you go with 1 roll of 4d6drop1 and don't allow cheats, you should all end up near the same power level.

Tempest Cleric all day long. Just fuck shit up with Variant Human for PAM and max damage level 3 Thunderwaves.

Besides the general answer of fairness at the start of the game, I'd really only roll for stats if I couldn't figure out what I wanted for my character, same with some other things. I think the game sets the standard kind of high by actually giving ability scores for commoners, so even with proficiency being applied to rolls, it's kind of weird thinking that your superhuman character might be weaker or less intelligent than Normaldude Townguy.
One DM I almost had had us roll for stats, but he referred to a list of all point-buy ability score combinations to give us the closest analog. So anything under 8 would usually get bumped up to 8 and the rest would adjust accordingly.

White Plume Mountain has an NPC with a magical weapon called Shatterspike. With this weapon he targets players weapons and attempts to attack and damage them.

Targeting and damaging held weapons of players with normal weapons, fun or bad?

How would you adjudicate it, take the AC and HP of the weapon from the DMG Objects table? Disadvantage to attack a weapon?

What distance do the characters start at?

I'm thinking this'd be basically "Crossbow fighters: the movie: the game" because they are very likely to burst down just about anyone. With Variant Human feat they can even allow themselves to get Alert (that's the initiative buff one, right?).

Then again, they are not the only one with good burst potential. you can choose between BM for knockdowns, or EK for giving you that +4 AC to survive if you didn't win init.