/5eg/ D&D Fifth Edition General

He's supposed to be a hit and run ambusher. He's supposed to tire out and exhaust the party so he'll end up being a genuine challenge when the real fight begins. He'll get wiped out against a healthy party and he knows it.

No?

Kinda spoilers ahead, if you're playing don't be a cheating fuck and look at his stats.

Pretty much. Think of it this way, he's got about 150ish HP I think. Maybe less.

In a straight fight against a party of well build and at least kinda smart level 10's he gets sooooo fucked up it isn't even funny. A well build martial can reduce him to half HP and any radiant damage stops his regen.

Basically you have to play him smart, no big 1v4 fight where he pulls a few tricks. Once he knows the parties a threat seriously just DM him as mercilessly as possible, it only takes a few seconds to realise he has some nasty tricks avalible to him if played right.

Also remember that he's an immortal unkillable fuck, he's got all the time in the world to try and kill you and unlike you he doesn't need a rest. Should be a long ass war of him skulking about.

At least that's how I ran it against my players and it took 2 sessions and 3 revive spells for them to kill him.

I can't believe anyone thinks this. If you can get to the place you fight him healthy you can dogpile him, but with laid actions and legendary actions it's tough to kill him before the bullshit begins.

Yes.

Strahd is no match for a healthy party with all resources available.

This is why Strahd is meant to drain this from the party. You as a GM, should not be letting him fight anyone, until they spent all their highest level spell slots, a lot of their lower ones, and even most of their short rest actions, ambushing them as they attempt to take a short rest.

Considering you'll be fighting him on his terms, you can never expect to just cheese something, because he WILL cheese you back.

Case in point: party thought they were being cute by using private sanctum. When it dropped, they were surrounded by undeads and a Dragon. Stupid fucking move expecting Strahd to just let them rest without abusing it to hell and back.

Same thing happened when they tried rope trick. I am almost expecting my players to be here on/ tg/, because they play wizards like the caster supremacy faggots here, who thinks their flawless plans will beat anything ever, and cant be countered.

Had a fun one where they actually tried to retreat into a rope trick, to give them a short rest during an encounter. They got their short rest... and lost even more when they got out, because to absolutely nobody's surprise, the enemies just fetched reinforcements. The retards actually thought they'd either leave entire, or just stand around and wait like idiots.

Like this said, the party will be fighting Sthrad in his home turf, so he'll pull all of the nasty tricks you can think of. His castle is his, so use it's layout to Strahd's advantage. Drop them from a tall balcony, have them enter a trapped room, flank them with wolves or swarm of bats, a hall of mirrors where some mirrors saps your life away, vampire minions to fool and trick the players. Strahd is supposed to be Tucker's Kobold but with vampires, not a fucking Tarrasque. His stats is basically meaningless at this point.

What's a good starting stat buy for a fighter and is it worth going dex to use finesse weapons and multiclass with at least a level of rogue for sneak attack if I'm the main melee combat for my party of casters and ranged.

Is it worth dipping into Fighter as a polearm specialized Paladin?

And if so, is it worth getting into Battlemaster?

Moon Druids, Cleric that crafts Holy Water. Holy Water Elemental Army.

Not them but I've always wondered, do the mists of Ravenloft prevent the summoning of extraplanar beings?

'sup Veeky Forums.
So, the MM and PHB of 5e are just coming out right now in my language. I couldn't use 5e before because my players are dumb fucks who can't into english.
We're starting a new campaign during this summer. We already know it's gonna de D&D. Should I make the jump and go from 4e to 5e ?
Overall, I do like the 4e (mostly because it's the first thing I ever played I think...), but I do find it to be a little too centered on the numbers and the crunch. Will 5e help with that ?
Is the game any fun with just the 3 basic books or does it need splats ?
Thank you for answering, have some catgirls.

It fucks with it, yeah

A well built martial at 10th level...

Battlemaster-10
Archery, Sharpshooter, Oathbow, Action Surge, Menacing Attack, Precision Attack, Bracers of Archery, +2 Arrows.

+8/+8/+8/+8 4d8+12d6+76= (136)

It corrupts whatever you're summoning. Mage Hand summons a skeletal/rotten hand, Find Steed summons a Nightmare or dead horse, etc.

From the 2e Domains of Dread book:

Conjuration and Summoning
A wizard who casts certain conjuration or summoning spells
may find the results limited by circumstance. A wizard can
summon animals and enchanted creatures only if they exist
within the domain in which he casts the spell. If the description
for a given domain docs not indicate which animals live
there, assume that the local fauna includes everything from similar habitats in other realms. For ease of reference,
Dungeon Masters can assume that the Core domain are
similar In ecology to the nations of central and eastern
Europe. Thus, a summoning attempt would not bring forth a
tiger or elephant in most domains. The Dungeon Master
should choose an appropriate creature from the domain.
Ravenloft is cut off from the rest of the multiverse, which
creates a problem for wizards who attempt to summon
planar creatures. In general, a creature still responds to the
summoning, though it is rarely what the wizard Intended
and often unfriendly, especially when the creature attempts to
to return home and discovers that it cannot depart from the Demiplane.

There are more detailed descriptions of spell modifications slightly after that, give me a bit to snip them.

Can someone tell me what it means to be a Conquest Paladin? Can they be good/hate evil but still stay ruthless. I have autists telling me Paladins must always be lawful good and a conquest paladin is an antipaladin.

I'd like to play a ruthless evil slayer that purifies evil for the sake of purifying evil, not for the sake of good. What would that make me?

...

Oh shit, that deva in the Curse of Strahd who went lawful evil. And who can never return to the planes

>Party entirely consisting of Paladins and Clerics wandering from town to town, acting like robin hood's merry men until they find the smallest dose of heresy, at which point they all become grizzled ptsd stricken serial murderers, the paladins striking down the villagers coldly from behind their iron masks, while the clerics mournfully chant and fling incense around with their thuribles and censers.
>As the village burns behind them, they break into song again.

Or you can just read about it in CoS where find familiar always results in an undead familiar. My group has flirted with summoning demons and boy do I hope they do.

5E needs pretty much no splats, it's pretty centralised.

I never played 4E, but if you're after stuff being a little less tactical wargame, 5E may be a good match for you all. I'd say give it a go.

If I "hide" 5 feet from an enemy (ie: Rogue fighting in Darkness or some other such thing), would I take opportunity attacks?

Not him, I'm having a really difficult time convincing some friends to play 5e. Holy shit do they love 4e. How would I go about convincing them to give 5e a shot?

*For moving, obviously

ask if you can run a trial session. do that, try and do a good job, see how they react to it, ask their opinions after it, if they like it, continue, if not, don't.

No GM worth his salt would allow that.

You cant hide 5 feet from an enemy. Don't be stupid.

Good stuff, thanks bruv.

I'm talking specifically for an AT or Warlock/Rogue in Darkness against a non-Devil's Sight enemy, obviously it'd not work in normal circumstances.

If they guess you're around they could still try to hit you without seeing you, they just take disadvantage.

Overall I think Advantage/Disadvantage is a good system but I do think it's a bit silly you have the same chance to hit an enemy that's laying prone 10 feet away with a bow as you do sniping a moving target from 499 feet.

I find the funniest part is that two foes fighting each other in darkness blind don't take disadvantage, since they get disadvantage for not being able to see but it's cancelled by the advantage of not being seen.

I mean one guy is swinging his weapon everywhere and the other guy is running around everywhere. So yeah, it evens out.

Pretty much. A good-aligned Conquest Paladin just wants to purge all the evil and make sure that it never has a chance to rise again so long as you live. Of course, there's also the matter of how you mete out judgment to pettier crimes. Do you destroy them like you would big-league evils or do you discipline them in order to ensure justice.

Maybe in other editions there might be some contention about being classed as either Paladin/Antipaladin, but 5e's got probably the most alignment-lenient Paladin of all time.

AoOs require sight.

I need some advise from you guys.

I am making a homebrew campaign. The idea is that a group is assembled from heroes of various worlds/planes, and brought to a dying world, in an attempt to save it.

The players make a level 15 character, who, on his own or with friends, saves saved his home world from destruction of some kind. This is mostly up to them.

Now they are thrown together in a group with strangers they have never heard of before, to save a world they didnt know existed. They had no time to prepare for this.

I am drawing a lot of inspiration from the whole "save Dark sun" idea I've read about. The World is dying for a myriad of reasons, some being purely deteriorating nature, some because of a malicious type of magic, some because of an empire who doesn't give a shit/is secretly trying to ruin the world, a third party who just wants the world to burn, and an external factor (most likely an old god) who wants to eat all life on the planet.

How would I best go about this?
>Full open world where they know the location of most key points from the start
>Attempt to lead them to where they need to go, aka rail roading to some extent
>Just let them go where they want, and make sure there is always something useful they can do

They will be 4 players, and it is based around them being super badass from the start, but without their gear. The first few sessions I expect to be about tracking down legendary items, to gear them up with their desired load out, before they start trying to tackle the big fish.

Any advise or suggestion?

If you cant see, you gain disadvantage
But if your opponent can't see you, you gain advantage.

You can't gain either multiple times.

So no, you just attack normally.

AoO can't be made if you can't see the enemy though.

>Party idea: Blind bums, then force them to fight in an arena for our own amusement

Drop them in the setting. Let them discover by themselves how fucked up the world is by wandering around. Make them realize what needs to be done instead of telling them where to go/who to kill. They must feel lost at first since they ARE lost.

He didn't say he couldn't see, don't make such assumptions.

Not being able to attack enemies with AoO if you can't see them seems odd though. If you blindfold someone, drop your pants and slap your ass while singing vigorously and bouncing away from them you would think they could at least try to swing at you as you did so.

You right nigga, should have checked the damn book before posting here in the first place I guess.

Does anyone know how much the Thunder Cannon weighs (see: Artificer UA)? It's not on the official document and I've been browsing the internet and I've yet to figure it out.

My favourite idea was to give them a few strange visions as they are dropped in the middle of nowhere with the 3 other strangers. Some God dragged them here, gave them a few weird visions the God thinks makes sense, and let them figure out the rest.

How would I build a hag? I want to be able to fight with claws and can cast as many as possible of the spells found from the Shared Spellcasting trait on page 176 of the Monster Manual as well as the Alternative Coven Spells on page 58 of Volo's Guide to Monsters.

Maybe said they had this gear but they saw it ripped from them as they arrive. Give them a tuning rod to find gear from another world, and they all stick together cause there is only one rod and so much gear.

The gear finds its way into the hands of key factions, including some good factions, who do not give them up until you do something for them or kill them.

You may even have an episode where someone steals the tuning rod and they maniacally chase that fucker down.

So you should ask them to pick 1 or two items the character would have, and you can also make your own legendary item for the each of them.

Build a wizard, kindly ask for primal savagery from Additional Spells unearthed arcana. Magic Initiate Druid if it comes to that.

>Buffed the power of Strahd after all the "Muh strahd went down in 1 round" crying on forums.
>Mfw Strahd casts Time Stop

I'd rather strip them entirely. These guys are pretty meta gamey, and they'll for sure make characters built around saving a decaying world already. I don't want them to start with high level magical items for this.

It is also more fun, as I can throw stupidly weak shit at them, which is just immune to their standard attacks, because they lack their old super powered gear.

Tuning rod sounds very rail roady. I'd rather give them directions, and make them fight for new gear.

That might involve beating up a poor 7hd bandit Lord, who thinks he is tough shit because of his +2 magic item.

Unless you are under silence then no.

Alright well just remember if given the world some may not know what to do with it. They need some kind of ping in a few directions. The closest town may have info on where problems are occurring, and they can choose then. Or if they want to do their own thing go let them.

Just remember clerics have divination legend lore and divine intervention at this level, secrets won't last long with them unless you go out of your way to proof against detection of which is notably railroady

Question: would casting enlarge on a hornet's nest result in a swarm of giant hornets issuing forth? Need some devious druidy.nature type defenses

Got a question for you guys. I'm pretty new to 5E and I don't fully understand how Investigation, Insight and Preception skills are used.

How it was explained was that to notice a trap, it was either passive or a normal perception check but when I asked to check a door for traps I was asked to roll an investigation check.

Same with when you try to lie it is Deception vs Perception but when I asked to see if a guy was lying to our party, I was asked to make an insight check.

Can someone give me examples of how to properly use the three skills?

...

Alter Self or something

Perception -> general feeling about a thing

Insight -> general feeling about a person, tell if someone is lying

Investigation -> find specific information about a thing (in a book, searching a wall, searching pockets, etc)

>Walk into a room.
"I wish to see if there is anything amiss in the room."
>Roll perception
"You see there is a small gap in the floor between two stone slabs.
"I wish to know what that gap is or what it does.
>Roll Investigation
"This room has no traps!" Says the guide.
"I wish to tell if he is lying based on how he said it."
>Roll Insight

Those are the basics, perception is looking, investigation is understand what you are looking at, insight is understand what someone is saying.

Would a party of six level 8 characters be able to kill an ancient green dragon if they had a good enough plan?

Depends on party comp, if he is in his lair, and if the dragon knows they are coming

There are not supposed to be secrets, they are intended to quickly be able to find all kinds of shit, that the average guy would have a snowballs chance in hell of getting, and if he has, he'll regret it as the heroes come a lot and relieve him of his great discovery.

They are supposed to be big players, and the average town should be afraid of them. Knowing my min max players, that certainly won't be a problem. I just want them to work a bit before getting back to their former glory, and further yet.

Actually curious- I intend to keep this running for quite a lot of sessions, and I am using rules for going above level 20 and epic boons. Is 15 a good level to start them at? I want them to start out powerful, but preferably not too close to 20. What level is best for a really good and powerful build, without being too end-game already?

Insight is purely for social things. It you are trying to understand an npc's actions or see through lies and such, use insight

Nobody really knows the difference between perception and investigation. The game seems to use them interchangeably in examples. they are both generally for detecting hard to find things, either looking, listening, etc. I restrict investigation to things you must touch/scrounge around in to find, and use perception for things you can detect at a distance.

Heres a dumb question that doesn't deserve its own thread. I recently bought all 3 rulebooks for 5e and am now having some buyers remorse over the total price. I'm definitely keeping the player handbook because navigating the pdf was painfully slow but I don't think I need the monster manual, maybe not even the dmg on account of never having a need to download their pdfs. How useful or necessary would you say the mm and dmg are?

The dragon knows they are around and is holed up in his lair.

10-11 would work fine they get their signature spells and most of their big abilities.

Green Dragons are the smart tricky ones, so I'd say they have a poor shot at it. If it was a brutish White Dragon, I think they could handle it well.

If you play the dragon how it's meant to be played you will fucking kill them.

Making a stealth check, and attacking with poison breath with a surprise round, then staring off with lair actions when they actually start will kill them all.

Strahd was by far the easiest "hard" fight we had in the entire campaign. He had nothing on any of the early fights that you can stumble into that are significantly over-leveled for the party.

I feel like you'd have to intentionally ignore the plot hooks and go straight at Strahd without any preparation or improved equipment to actually make this difficult.

How much do you DM

MM is the most useful of the three to physically have; makes it easier to quickly pull out and keep open as reference for monster stats.

PHB is the least necessary to physically have; character building doesn't happen during sessions and basic rules are easy enough to memorize. You will only need to actually open up the PHB often during sessions if your group is full of people who don't know how to write things on their character sheets.

DMG is somewhere in-between depending how often you intend to use the tables in it. It has good general advice besides.

I disagree with the PHB because spells and abilities often need a rule check and if the average session is anything like /5eg then you are definitely gonna need it.

Strahd himself isn't terrifically hard to kill, but you need a party that can get through the dangers of Ravenloft. You'll want a cleric with staus-removal spells (curses, poison, Restoration, etc.)

As for Strahd, you need to sort of beta-strike him. You need to kill him quickly enough so that he doesn't simply sink through the floor and escape, but you're not going to do it on round 1.

So damage him enough to where you think you can go nova and kill him, but not enough where he thinks he's in danger and leaves to regenerate.

Oh well. It sounds like I better discourage the party from attacking it then. Strongly.

>because navigating the pdf was painfully slow
How? Do you not have bookmarks or a search function? Are you reading it on a toaster?

They could wipe the floor with any adult dragon tho'.

I'd do that if I just wanted them to fight a dragon, but this ancient one is already an established character and I suspect some of the players might think it's a good idea to fuck with him.
They have a quest to bring him a magical item and get a quest item in return. Hopefully they'll keep the encounter civilized.

There are apps to pull up spells faster than flipping through a book. And again, it's easy enough to memorize what your typically used spells do, unless you have brain problems or something. You will never memorize the stats and features of 100+ monsters and being able to have it open to glance at while your phone/tablet/computer looks up something else is immensely useful.

Also, PCs should've written what there abilities do on their sheets. That's what it's for.

Not often

I use it on my laptop and some of the text doesn't register under the the search function.

Luckily, there are also bookmarks in case of just such a situation

Seems a tad low for world saving folks, though, doesn't it?

So I should stick to pdf and return the books?

Interesting trick against strahd.

Once you Kill him, then grapple his gaseous form as it has no resistance or immunity to this. Plus it can only take the dash action so it can never roll to escape. A few hours pass and he auto dies.

You said there is a lot of little things going on, and level 10s can do a lot. I was level 10 when we killed Strahd, level 11 when we killed Immerith. It's a perfect jumping point

Is there any way to build a rogue without multiclassing? Or is the value of an extra attack too much?

By RaW that would work, but your DM would have to be mad to allow it

Yes? Reliable talent at level 10 is disgustingly good. Sneak Attack also ain't bad at all

Not him, but I understand slow navigation. Bookmarks are fine, but some things, like "dual-wielding", don't hold up well to search functions and irritatingly come up in multiple locations meaning different things, or being parts of feats.

Books are just quicker that way.

Of course it wouldn't survive DM fiat. Also the fact it can pass through any space air can pass through would be enough of a reason to call RAW no grappling.

I mean completely theoretically I guess you can.

I would keep the MM if you intend to run games. Keep it open to the relevant monster page and free up your comp to look up other things. Otherwise, yes, there really is little reason to own books in the 17th year of the second millenium of God. WotC should've made a compedium/dm tools for 5e like they did with 4e.

I sort of want to build a melee arcane trickster to use booming blade with sneak attack, or just a variant human rogue with magic initiate for the same purpose

If you put a stake through the heart of a vampire, then kill him, does he still get to Misty Escape? Is he pinned in place as a gas?

>Magic Items
You are a dummy.