/5eg/ - Fifth Edition General

Ok but as a DM would you allow any kind of fighter to make an attack against a specific part of an opponent's body if they take the attack with disadvantage?
>I want to fire at a casters hands to stop them from casting anything or even shoot at their mouth to stop them from casting anything.

That's what he is asking you mong

A priest prays to an evil god and carries out his will not out of direct influence but out of sheer belief.

A warlock whose patron is an evil god made a binding contract with that being directly, carrying out the evil god's will and gaining secret knowledge of magic in return.

No. The ability to make an attack at all represents your ability to fight through combat conditions enough to potentially score a lethal blow, it doesn't mean that you can "i stab him in the eye" every round forever.

How are the UA mass combat rules? How do you run mass combat?

Does anyone have a pdf copy of Grimtooth's Ultimate Traps Collection?

Are mystics over or underpowered? What mystic disciplines would you ban, if any?

They are over-versatile, and competitive in combat with full casters up until 5th level spells. Their damage is fairly average for casters, and generally below martials. At lower levels, their extreme versatility options may make them showstealers, but it won't be permanent, and their best utility options are generally the least efficient combat options. They are probably most similar overall to bards in play, but aren't really as good as them at anything both choose to specialize in.

>Is the priest of an evil god much different than a warlock beholden to the same god?
they are not similar, so they are very different.
>How about a warlock and priest of a good god?
Since Warlocks aren't inherently evil, the comparison between evil and good priests and warlocks is irrelevant.

They are generally overpowered through sheer versatility. Cut down the number of disciplines they can learn and adjust a few specific disciplines and they'll be fine. Nomadic mind's psychic focus in particular is pretty extreme.

Nomadic Mind is also entirely awful other than it's focus. Hey you can use a bonus action to become proficient in whatever you need! Oh, and you can spend pp for them too, because you always want to use a resource for no reason.

Find creature has its uses, but is super niche, and taking an hour and using the equivalent of a level 2 spell for identify is fucking garbage.

The eye's are ok, but really pp inefficient.

Overpowered at first and weaker later on.

I think a fair few of the Nomad disciplines need some changing and most need to be tweaked a little. I also think they should cut down the number of them you get a little bit and put some restrictions on having to take some that belong to your Order.

Also add some Soul Knife ones that let you form different weapons with your focus. A 2d6 two-hander, one that can be thrown, one with reach and etc.

Got a question about a recent AL session with respect to personality and such.
>Regular DM is doing hardcover stuff now
>One of my buddies has to DM because 2 vacationers wanted to join for only 2 sessions before heading back home (south africa).
>Shrug and join buddy because he painted my mini and figure it's expressing appreciation by NOT saying "welp, too bad for you."
>Table is pretty diverse class-wise
>Played the adventure my buddy chose, only meta-gamed once in a specific situation where I knew what would happen and wanted to trigger it for shits and giggles KNOWING nobody was gonna die and we'd have fun regardless.
>Only instance of impacting anything, proceed as quiet/seldom joking guy without being disruptive
>Get through things fine enough, even have my character (he had done the adventure before and was l4) not know the answer to the puzzle while dropping a subtle hint as to what it should be.
>Next half of session, we go to the next part
>Spend time checking book and making sure everything is in order with my character/so I'm not impactint anything.
>Buddy doesn't seem to mind and even manages to mostly disregard me
>At one point, we encounter a trap I know how to deal with
>Instead, have character behave as though this is the first time
>Guy beside me is telling the player whose character is nearest the trap to do things like "cover it" or "break it".
>Kindly tell him not to meta-game
>"How is that meta-gaming?"
>Explain to him that taking ooc knowledge and relaying/using it ic is meta-gaming
>Not his turn and he made no indication that he was saying as much ic. Hell, his character didn't even have line of sight and no prior knowledge of the trap
>"I say it ic, then"
>Just mentally sigh and carry on
>Prior, the rogue (same guy I think) wanted to perform a sneak attack on an alerted enemy and claimed that because he was behind myself and another with a limited LoS, he could
>DM allowed it due to inexperience as a DM
Am I THAT guy?

In 5e you can sneak attack once per turn if you have advantage on the attack or if there's an ally next to the enemy (and you don't have disadvantage).

If he's a lightfoot halfling and he's behind an ally, he can also use his action or bonus action to try to hide.

I'm trying to figure out how to make an Elvish Wardancer. My first thought was a Dexbarian but that doesn't really do that kind of things I'd like.
Right now I'm thinking a Duelist Ranger but at that point there's no reason to not use a shield and medium armour. Are there any martial characters who are good with weapons, dexterity and either light or no armour?

Redemption Paladin? Kensei?

I want to connect my aberrations to echoes of a greater being trying to pry it's way into our world. Elder Brains are it's brain/thought, Beholders are it's eyes/sight, Gibbering Mouthers is it's mouth/taste. What would work for hands/touch, it's ears/hearing, and it's nose/smell?

>elvish wardancer
>dex, light armour
Literally Bladedancer

Oh, forgot about the Kensai and that'd work perfectly. Might ask if I can refluff my bonus action attack as dual-wielding and go with that, thanks.

I'm going for a Wood Elf Wardancer, so no or only a little bit of magic. Not really Wizard material.

This is how you make Rock Gnomes cool.

He might have been a halfling. All I recall is the party being surrounded and him and the creature having partial LoS on each other. Granted, the creature was distracted, so I might be lawyering a bit. I didn't say anything more because it wasn't going to matter, regardless. What got me was
>He's something like a level 2-4
>Hand crossbow that deals 3d6
>Partial LoS because myself and another dude are standing between him and the creature almost completely
>DM even says he's uncertain given the LoS seems too narrow
>Prior to this, there were 6 creatures, all alerted to the party
I think I'm trying more to justify lawyering a bit more than actually presenting a credible argument at this point.

>Nomadic mind's psychic focus in particular is pretty extreme.
It's jack of all trades. Slower, but stronger. Maybe it should just BE jack of all trades. It's hardly extreme.

Mystic Arcaneum

If you don't want a greatsword, then any monk.

That image looks cool and got me thinking. I'm planning a short campaign that will involve a water encounter or two. What are some good aquatic monsters I can throw at a level 1 or 2 group that will be moderately prepared?

So two-handed weapons are basically better because GWM? I guess I can just make it a huge two-handed scimitar or a double sided one and roll with that.

The rules cover this situation. Creatures provide 1/2 cover. Unless you're a Gelatinous Cube, you don't occupy every cubic cube of your grid square and do not block line of sight.

Rogue with dip in bladesinger?

> (OP)
>In 3.x, around level 5 is when characters can generally match real world experts in their capabilities/skills.
>At what point does that happen in 5e? At what level does my athletics match Olympic performance? Etc.

Is there a Tanky class that can do more than barbarian. I'm afraid my Barb isn't having any fun in combat

Paladin, Battlemaster (and some other UA archetypes) fighter, Stone Sorcerer

two-handed weapons are better because no weapon you use in one hand is going to be better than the spear or quarterstaff a monk can already use. You might prefer kensei's abilities, but you could pick any monk path.

Define do more.

More damage? more out of combat? tank more? More in combat?

Any good one-shots adventures you anons would recommend? I have no ideia what to DM saturday to my players.

Should Monk have a d10 hitdie?

Sorry, I can't hear you over the sound of my 40d6 force Loremaster Meteor Swarm.

D12

d20

I've seen martial arts movies and kung fu apparently makes you fucking indestructible

Even though that would be good I kinda feel like only the Barbarian should get that. d12 is basically only useful on the Barb anyway.

Really the +2 HP at level 1 and +1 every other level would mostly just be there to try and reduce the Monks need for CON because they already need to max DEX and WIS while trying to pick up the Mobile feat.

Also, Mandatory Ladders to use in fights. Ladders play an important role in all Kung Fu fighting experts lives.

What's your experience with dedicated grapplers? A waste of time or actually useful?

I would love to go Drunken Master and refluff it, it's a shame it sucks though. The dodging after flurrying, increased movement, redirecting attacks, performance proficiency and all that are pretty much exactly what I want but they're just not very good.

Should add, would I be better off just going moon druid and occasionally using the relevant forms when needed for big bosses? The team desperately needs some frontline and Barbarian and generic fighter could not be less attractive.

I dont think theres a more efficient sack of meat than a moon druid.

If you wanted a more engaging frontliner why not paladin?

Lore bards can get expertise in Athletics, use their inspiration dies to make enemies roll worse, can self buff to grow large.

They are excellent grapplers aside from not having a secnd attack (well, you can get a second attack by going valor), on top of being full casters.

Fluff it as the bard dancing with the enemy. Sounds cool.

We already have two wizards, a sorc, a 4 elements monk and a 2H Fighter, definitely don't need another caster. I'm currently going fighter till 11 with a single level in rogue early for the expertise athletics. Eldritch knight lets me pick up enlarge as well as the three attacks per turn + action surge.

I've never played a paladin before. What's an effective frontline build. Pally and Druid are both looking good since the group lacks healing in any shape or form.

Its a martial user, Take sentinel and call it a day.

Paladin does have spells to either actively coerce enemies to fight him or to shield an ally from harm which is pretty good.

Oath of ancients if youre afraid of enemy magic, devotion if your party cant save against charms for shit

I've actually been thinking about how to buff Drunken Master. Would making the level 3 give you an extra Flurry of Blows attack and the level 6 being once per enemy fix it?

Potato Au Gratin

DMG36/37 has some stuff this, sort of.
>Levels 1-4: Local Heroes
>Levels 5-10: Heroes of the Realm
>Levels 11-16: Masters of the Realm
>Levels 17-20: Masters of the World

Not exactly what you're looking for, but at least it's a bit of something.

Kraken

Does anyone happen to have some maps for playing the Adventurers League modules (DDEX), specifically for the third season (Rage of Demons)? A lot of this stuff seems to be designed for use without a map but I really don't want to DM without one.

d100

It's what the rules say and people try to justify it anyway.

But really, it shouldn't happen, and players shouldn't know initiative at all until combat really starts. It's much more fluid to not demand initiative rolls for surprise at first anyway, in case it ends just like that.

You're already doing that. It's called concentration, and if you hit the spellcaster until they go to 0 you've successfully prevented the caster from doing those things.

Too swingy, just make it 1d4+48

>Dual-wielding
Play barbarogue, because barbarogue can actually dual-wield viably.
Or AT.
Or bladesinger, but fuck bladesinger.

>Masters of the World
How many commoners with bows does it take to kill the average level 20 Fighter again?

Define "average".

If it's not a shield+plate+defensive style fighter with the right feats, not that much.

If it is, something like 400, assuming no logistical issues, from what I remember.

You could double that with heavy armor master

I think that's included in "right feats".

Should have screenshot the post with the calculations... not that it'd help, I'm at work now.

Depends on a number of factors, but if it's close combat where the commoners can grapple, shove, disarm and restrain etc etc then honestly you don't need a lot of commoners, especially considering a dex fighter can only deal 1 or 2 or 3 damage without a weapon.

On the other hand, a wizard will have an army of clones hiding in demiplanes, be able to anticipate attacks and be able to carpet-bomb commonerville.

Actually, on second thought, a bunch of commoners could just kite a non-ranged fighter who doesn't have a stockpile of javelins at hand.

In 5e grappling is piss poor compared to murdering the fuck out of the enemy.

>
>level 20 fighter leaves his party walks into evil commoner ville
>Gets ambushed
>spends hours hacking them down before he succumbs
>Wizard from fighters party hears about it
>walks to evil commonerville sees it on the horizon, a mile away
>summons meteors, turns the village to rubble in 6 seconds
>wizard questions why he thought the fighter was valuable to begin with

He could have just wished the fighter back to life

>Peasants run off with any thrown javelins
>At any time the fighter gets close, commoners banzai suicide rush him and each attempt to shove him prone until one succeeds, thus reducing his speed to 15ft that turn (action to attack, half movement to stand) instead of 60ft (Action to dash)

Alternatively, the peasants shove him prone and then shove him 5ft away every time before running away, leaving him >15ft away and preventing him from attacking without action surge (So he can action surge twice to kill up to 8 commoners) but otherwise, as long as he continues to fail contested strength checks, he'll be shovelocked forever without getting close. Especially easy if he doesn't have athletics proficiency.

Their athletics/acrobatics modifier can likely be either +5/+11. If +11, there's a 11% chance of success of grapple/shove. If +5, 26% chance of success.

>Preventing the enemy from moving and then shoving for advantage on all attacks, disadvantage on all their attacks, then very possibly being able to disarm them or restrict their somatic components
>Worse than just making an attack
Only if your DM doesn't allow logical actions during grappling such as disarming opponents, or if your attacks are really strong, or if the enemy was really weak.
There are some circumstances it's brilliant, especially in many versus one scenarios.

Play barbarogue, and even then, they aren't a 'dedicated' grappler. They're just great at it.

Nah, he's spending the wishes on clones of himself instead.

Moon Druid in the form of: Giant Octopus+Longstrider, Giant Constrictor Snake, Giant Scorpion, and Giant Alligator can grapple *and* do damage. Remember that escape difficulty is based on the wildshapes' attack and not your STR+Athletics check. Moon Druids are the best grapplers.

Take V.Human with Sentinel, Max CON and WIS, 14 in either DEX or CHA, Warcaster at 4th, Resilient (CON) at 8th.

In combat:

1) Cast a concentration spell like Flaming Sphere, Conjure Animals, Conjure Minor Elementals, Conjure Woodland Beings, Conjure Elemental, Conjure Fey, etc. Conjures are so good it forces the enemy to attack your bottomless supply of Wildshape hp just to force Concentration checks.

2) Bonus action wildshape and get up close and personal with the enemy. Have someone squishy who does lots of damage (rogue or monk) ride your wildshape and use Sentinel Feat to defend them.

3) Make all your Concentration checks with advantage thanks to Warcaster. And get a bigger bonus once you get Resilient (CON).

Why bother?
You don't need him for anything, and it'd be a mild inconvenience if he tries to murder you. I mean, sure, he 'might' succeed with his friends, once. And then your clone comes back and kills him and wonders why you ever revived him.

Actually, yeah, revive the fighter and then use various spells on him to ensure he does all your labour for you.

Honestly, druids are more OP than bards or wizards.

Two wildshapes a short rest. That's likely one every combat.

That's exactly one every combat if you consider the encounter guidelines.

Meanwhile barbarians have rages/day.

There's no justice for martials in Mearls D&D.

>the level 6 druid can turn into a cr2 polar bear

So OP my dude. Moon druids start off busted and taper hard.

Well, i suppose they never stop being impossible to kill.

>42 free hitpoints as a bonus action every combat at level 6
>Has a pretty decent multiattack
>Has a +5 str mod for athletical shit
>40ft speed, 30ft swim speed
>Can continue using some abilities/concentrating while bear
>Large, to get in the enemy's way

It would be justified if they were completely useless in bear form, but they aren't.

Is the accusation that 5e is bland and boring and its rules aren't as well written as it should be justified?

Not really bland at all and the rules have a few weird things that in the first printing but the other printings are all pretty good.

Surprise, Magic Missile and Twinned Spell metamagic are the three things I see arguments about the most and you can google the official rulings.

With like 11 AC

Its not like a moon druid is that great outside of polymorph, especially since they tend to burn their spell slots healing the current form they have.

Hell, in another level the land druid can get 160 free health and two 3d10+6 attacks

>especially since they tend to burn their spell slots healing the current form they have.
>Casting during beast shape
???

You know that scene at the end of Hero? It's a start.

Moon druids can sacrifice slots for HP.

It's generally a trap. You'd be a fucking idiot to sacrifice a daily resource for a short-rest one, but there you have it.

I agree with both, but would phrase it less bad sounding.

Bring back Warlord. Natural language is cancer.

"Additionally, while you are transformed by Wild Shape, you can use a bonus action to expend one spell slot to regain 1d8 hit points per level of the spell slot expended."

>Moon druids can sacrifice slots for HP.
Ah. Forgot about that. A trap indeed.

What was the issue with surprise, magic missile and twinned spell?

>but would phrase it less bad sounding
??how do you mean?
What is the issue with natural language wording of rules?

Kuo-toa and Sahuagin are the low-level mooks of aquatic areas. If you want a supremely difficult encounter to end it with, consider a Sea Hag. Otherwise, a Kuo-toa whip and a few assistants or a Sahuagin priestess with a couple of guards is a good boss encounter.

I'm using the Downtime rules in my next game and had a question from a player.

With the activities that require a skill check can they use class, race and feat features to effect them? Like the Lucky feat, a Barbarians Rage and a Favored Souls +2d4?

Thanks! I'll look those up

That might be a bit too much for them.

>What is the issue with natural language wording of rules?

Basically half of sage advice is because of natural language.

Also, it wastes/pads space and obfuscates mechanics.

>anime pedo shit
>likes druids
checks out

So much bullshit
Commoners have 4 hp and 10 AC.
A high level fighter could kill one by throwing a rock off the ground (improvised weapon, 1d4) and has a fair chance of murdering one with a single throw even at medium to low levels, with disadvantage. Not to mention opportunity attacks, action surge dash ect. On top of that, EK and Battlemaster have huge toolboxes to work with, and god forbid they are facing a high level Champion, that guy could whittle down an army thanks to his regen.

Why bother? Dude, have you ever played this game? I've seen casters burn out on spell slots more times then I can count and sucking dick for a rest.
>b-b-but you should have been able to rest no problem! thats not how the game should be played!

People who think there is no need for martials as a caster are fucking retarded who are coddled by their DM's because they are autist babies who probably run crying from a table if they don't get their beauty sleep. Pathetic.
I play a caster constantly, and there are plenty of times you don't GET to sleep, because the monsters are at the door, and can chase you to the ends of the earth because they have the same scrying and magic you do, and every long rest you eck out is a bloody miracle. The wizard who has no respect for martials loses his spellbook to the one who does, time and time again.
Fite me you pathetic pussy caster bitch, I'll turn you into a frog while my fighter dwarf buddy fucks you in the mouth and jizzes down your gullet.
You pansy faggot little nigger bitch, check
>pic related
It's you