/5eg/ - Fifth Edition D&D General

D&D 5th Edition General Discussion

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Previously, on /5eg/: How do you help make magic feel strange?

Other urls found in this thread:

reddit.com/r/dndnext/comments/3s8906/all_core_magical_secrets_picks_for_bard/cwuzq4x/
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Did we really need a new thread

tentacle magic would feel strange lol

Old thread was at bump limit, so we were going to autosage.

Make it so its extremely rare to have a caster in the setting and have the only caster in the game be my dmpc

We normally wait till page 10

>extremely rare
>more casting classes than non casting

Wait till closer to level 10 next time

Heh level, enough booze for tonight and time for bed

>pcs cant play them

I use this for some NPC casters. At one point the party hired an old psedo-Celtic crone lady to call upon the ancestor spirits and do raw shit to their enemies.

It's also solid as far as feats go, I suppose.

What's an interesting character I can play to spruce up a party of generic humans?

Merfolk.

Huh, could actually be cool and I'd just refluff Triton. Are there any classes they excel at other then Paladin? A Bard or Storm Sorcerer seems like it could be cool.

Maybe a Fighter 1/Bard X for Heavy Armour.

I need some advice, I have never had or run a big battle before in my campaign and I'm nervous that there might be too many NPCs/creatures/groups in here.

The groups at the top are a group of Cultist that the party is about to fight. They are defending their HQ which is the big enclosed spiral thing, and they want to kill the party.

The groups at the bottom are the party (6 people all around levels 6-8), NPCs, clerics, and knights. They are here to capture/kill the cultist and takeout/capture their leader.

The small purple symbol below the party is a large acid trap set to go off and basically kill the party if they are not careful. (10d10 Acid damage 40 ft. radius.) They have been warned in advance.

I have it so the individual groups of knights, cultist, and clerics have one initiative score, and the NPCs have their own. Any advice as to how to not make this "Another DM plays with themselves episode"?

Why refluff Triton? Merfolk are their own race with their own abilities.

Shit that's right, the Planeshift version.

I'll look it over, thanks user.

Yeah, that's the point. (You) are special.

I'd suggest pre-rolling initiative for all of the enemies, and using static damage for them as much as possible. Those will be effective ways to streamline running it.

Will do, any tips for how to handle HP? Should the groups have one big HP total or individual HPs for each?

Best options for level 6 Lore Bard?

Besides Counterspell, obviously. Aura of Vitality seems like a solid choice.

So I'm making a tank/melee sorcerer. With these spells and abilities, how do you think I'm going?
Quickened spell MetaMagic and I'm undecided on the 2nd one.

Stone sorcerer gives:
+1HP/sorc lvl
AC = 13+con
gives smite spells & other melee spells as options for a sorcerer

At lvl6 it gives a single resistance buff to allies and a teleport+reaction attack for protecting a single buffed target.

>Longsword + Shield combo for 1d8 and +2 AC. I'm aiming at higher that 17AC so I can tank for the party.
x2 Daggers so I can use smite+booming blade combo or other forms of burst magic/melee.
>Glaive so I can use smites or BB and retreat without provoking Attack of Opp.

For spells I'm thinking:
Cantrips - Booming blade, Firebolt, GreenFB, Mending, Light.
LvL1 - Searing Smite, thunderous Smite
LvL 2 - Blur, Scorching ray
LvL 3 - Haste, Counterspell (I'm considering swapping out haste for fireball and telling the bard to get Haste because currently no-one has fireball)

Any suggestions on improving this build? are there any melee weapons that work better under these situations or any better spell combos to go for?

I'd suggest minions as they're handled in 13th Age. A single healthpool, with individuals killed off for every x amount of damage. So, 12 minions in this bunch with 10 hp each? 120 hp for the group, and for every 12 points of damage the group takes another one dies.

>reddit.com/r/dndnext/comments/3s8906/all_core_magical_secrets_picks_for_bard/cwuzq4x/

I also add, Armor of Agathys if you want something for melee combat.

Okay! I'll do some math and figure out some good numbers for the groups.

Vampiric Touch
3rd-level necromancy
Casting Time: 1 action
Range: Self
Components: V, S
Duration: Concentration, up to 1 minute
The touch of your shadow-wreathed hand can siphon force from others to heal your wounds. Make a melee spell attack against a creature within your reach. On a hit, the target takes 3d6 necrotic damage, and you regain hit points equal to half the amount of necrotic damage dealt. Until the spell ends, you can make the attack again on each of your turns as an action.

At Higher Levels: When you cast this spell using a spell slot of 4th level or higher, the damage increases by 1d6 for each slot level above 3rd.

Does this imply that once it had hit someone that you can use an action to maintain it and automatically deal the damage again? Or does it just mean that you can do it on the same person again as an action without re-casting the spell?

What would be some useful magical items for my wolf animal companion?

Also with this, how would AOE work would they all have to make separate saves or one mass save? How does damage work for that?

You keep the spell on your hands, so using an action you can melee spell attack someone for vamp touch until you lose it.

I'm a bit confused with the use of sorcerer points being a first time sorc-player.

I can convert a 1st lvl spell slot into 2 SP, a 2nd lvl slot = 3 SP and a 3rd lvl slot = 5 SP right?

And at 5th lvl I have 4 lvl1 slots, 3 lvl2 slots and 2 lvl3 slots.

Does this mean that if I start with 2 lvl3 slots I can convert 4 lvl1 slots into 8SP and convert 3 lvl2 slots into 9SP and convert the 24SP I have into 4 more lvl3 slots with 4SP leftover.
>I think I may be misunderstanding the mechanics of spell slots here because it implied that at lvl5 I can cast 6 fireballs and that set off a few red flags for me.

Thanks for clarifying, as you can see I'm new to spells.

My players wanna do a pvp session.
>waaaah don't do it 5e wasn't made for pvp
k, won't stop us from having fun.

Gonna draw up a small pvp arena.
I either want to throw them into a gladiator like arena with pit traps, spikes, and other hazards to watch out for, or I wanna throw them into an isolated wilderness type area.

Any fun ideas?

What would be some good monsters to place in a dungeon below a temple? The temple was Ilmater's, but cultists in the dungeon worshipped the Queen of Blood. I was thinking 3 levels, first one with a large mess hall with goblins, third level would be undead cultists in the last room. I'm not sure about level 2 or the rest of level 3.
This is for a level 2 solo character with maybe some help from an NPC or two but not necessarily. They're also pursued by their rival (also level 2) seeking to bring them into custody.
The PC will be tasked with retrieving a statuette of the BQ for an employer.
I'll be happy to get any additional advice on the dungeon (traps, loot, layout...) - it's my first time DMing (well, second session). Cheers!

I don't want to think about the math, but I believe there's a deficit somewhere when it comes to converting points to 3rd level slots.
Which is intentional.

So once again, not sure if your math checks out, but yes, sorcerers can do stuff with their sorcery points to give themselves more higher-level slots if that's how they wanna use their points. Hence, flexible-casting.

Add bomb collars on them and hide 3 detonators around the arena where they have to go through traps and pvp each other to get tho them. If all 3 are not disarmed they all blow up.

WHY DO MY PLAYERS KEEP CANCELLING! THIS IS THE SECOND TIME WE HAD TO CANCEL A SESSION!

Is Curse of Strahd just a conversion of the old Ravenloft Module, or is it a new adventure in Barovia?

They have plenty of incentive to fight each other, and it's like a "side-session" for fun. No impact on the main campaign, they're just using those characters.
They all are aware it's a "fight to the death" scenario so they'll all be trying equally hard to win. So I don't think the collars are necessary.
I kinda like the idea of bombs though.

Gave me a thought which reminded me of mario party. Could drop a massive bomb on the field at some point that can be rolled about by the other players. Blows up in 3 turns or something.
The explosion could mimic a fireball.

It's both. It consists of the village of Barovia and the castle, but also new areas to the west of the castle including two towns, a ruined temple filled with ancient evils, werewolf dens, a flooded village, a mage's tower, and a vineyard.

Dumb frogposter.

It's a conversion with added countryside and stuff to do.

That's not a 1:1 conversion chart. It's a spell point to spell slot exchange rate. Look one section down. That's how many points you get per spell slot; one per.

I'd never cancel on you, user

Thirsting Blade doesn't stack with Extra Attack, right?

Howsabout you read it and see?

Gotcha. So it's like a "Remastered" version of the original?

An arena where you roll on a random table for a square of the play changing, such as the arena flooding with 3 feet of water giving disadvantage to melee fighters in movement and attacks, or have zone(s) turned into antimagic zones where anyspell effect is dispelled immidiatly. Other things like X amount of damage in a zone will activate a summoning circle for a beast that is hostile to everyone.

Think of fun environmental hazards that benefit both ranged attacks and melee attacks such as cover appearing for melee or difficult terrain to ranged.

If there is an odd number of players have one of them pull levers and switches to change the environment and obstacles of the arena as the other 2 fight.

...

Nope.

No we play in person. I sent out a text but nobody has responded and now it's too late too start a session.

Every 3 turns the wheel of fate spins.

>Antimagic field appears lasting for 1 round
>Fill the arena with water lasting for 1 round
>Drop bombs everywhere (random locations)
>Cast summon vrock that lasts 2 rounds

Possibilities are endless

Out of curiousity what are you running

You were scheduled to play today and no one showed up or seems to have acknowledged that fact?
Fuck em.

They probably don't want to really play then. That's tough. But it happens. Alternatively, something came up. Doubtful that'd be the case for the entire group, though.
Just ask them honestly if they're interested in continuing the game. if not, don't waste your energy worrying about them. As a forever DM that WISHES he could be a player, they don't know what they're missing out on when someone wants to run a game for you. Unless you're a shit DM. You're not a shit DM, right?

I'm just doing a homebrew campaign.
They all knew we were supposed to play today. I'm just sad now

Yeah, I like it. I just kinda want to have a theme of some sort.

One idea was a snowy landscape. Sleet/hail storms, frozen lake that you could trip on if you don't cross carefully.
>a pit with an angry frost worm

>Why would you ask for a summary of something rather than going and getting it and reading it yourself to see what it is!?
Is this a serious question?

There's a lot of stuff to read in the world, I can't possibly read it all. I find/ask for summaries of things that seem potentially interesting to determine if I want to invest the time to read it in full.

This question was to inform me of roughly what the book entails so I can decide whether or not to read it.

Having played the original, I'm going to pass on it unless I feel like redoing it.

If it was a completely new Barovian adventure I might have picked it up, but as is I'll probably grab SKT instead.

Well, like I said, if you're a half-decent DM that's running a homebrew game they're just assholes.
Are they friends of yours or people you met specifically for running a game?

Regardless, just tell them honestly:
>hey guys I put a lot of work into preparing to DM each of our sessions. I know sometimes things come up, but if we're scheduled to play it would really mean a lot to me if you could give me advanced notice. If you aren't interested in playing the game anymore, that's fine too, but I'd appreciate the honesty so I don't feel like I'm wasting my time.

They all say they like me as a DM so I don't think that's the problem. I'm playing with my friends and one of my roommates but he was supposed to be home from work like 4 hours ago and the other three I haven't heard from.

Yeah, fuck that guy. I didn't get through that many games of it myself but it seems pretty spooky and I liked what parts of it I experienced.
Unfortunately I don't think I'll get someone dedicated to running it for me. So I'll probably just end up watching perkins DM it. You might find watching some of his games where they play helpful for seeing how it is.

I've heard great things about SKT though, and have read through the first few parts of it myself. Seems like more groups would enjoy SKT than Stradd imo.

Also, a popular opinion I've heard around these parts is that if you run CoS, you need to buff Stradd because he often drops like a pussy so the fight is pretty anticlimactic.

It's also quite possible they just forgot. It happens as well.
Ask em what's up?
You said it has happened before. In the same manner? Or did they actually cancel properly before?
Regardless, just ask them and let them know to cancel properly so you can know whether or not you're gonna have your evenings free. That's what irks me when it comes to any kind of cancellation. Just give the person enough time to change plans.

I spent half an hour formatting four Psionic Disciplines and two Psionic Talents on a Google doc file. The app I used to convert the PDF to a doc was absolutely atrocious with its formatting. If I had the drive I might be able to force myself to do the entire list of Disciplines and Talents but fuck me. This list looks damn nice though. Can't wait to play my Mystic. Using Nomadic Arrow, Nomadic Step, Psionic Restoration, and Telepathic Contact. I wish I could also get Psionic Phantoms but I'm starting at 3rd level so oh well. My character is gonna wear a full robe, boots, and gloves, along with a mask, and she'll only speak telepathically so the party will basically know nothing about who is under there. This is gonna be fun, I hope they find some fun roleplay ideas for interacting with my character. I'm pumped.

Oh and Talents are Mind Meld and Delusion. Also I won't use Occluded Mind for anything insane, I know how broken the wording makes it. Don't wanna be that guy. I really just want everyone to have a fun time.

Forget about using spells that require a spell attack roll.

Yiz are the one that should be twinning haste, using shield/absorb elements and generally use spells that require no attack rolls or saves.

I'm considering making a Sealock Movement Master, however if I do I only "need" to go Warlock 5/SeaSorc 1 or Warlock 3/Sea Sorc 1 if I took Thorn whip or Warlock 2/Sea Sorc 1 if I took Lightning Lure.

What are some other control-oriented things I could do with other levels? Make a standard Fighter 2/Warlock 2/Sorcerer? Warlock 5/Sorcerer1/Paladin X?

Why not just copypaste from 5etools?

>just finished a one-shot our DM made since some players were missing
>he told us it was a horror one-shot and to make level 1 villagers who were "mundane"
>spice it up by being the main priest of the town, outwardly a very nice guy who visits everyone and knows everyone
>actually an evil person who is a sadist and performs sacrilege and heresy behind closed doors in pursuit of immortality
>am favored soul sorcerer, pick only cleric spells
>everyone in the party thinks I'm an actual cleric
>one other player also plays a cleric of the same temple, Judge Dredd of the church
>super into omens and shit, DM keeps throwing bad omens at her the entire game
>think it wasn't even on purpose, just coincidence on his part to make the game mood-fitting
>she thinks the omens are meant for her, saying she wasn't worthy to be a cleric and she is evil
>entire time my character was acting as a kind leader, leading, healing everyone and taking point
>grabbed a bunch of books and important evil ritual implements under the guise of needing to "make it never see the light of day"
>translation, "I'm gonna study the fuck outta this"
>moving on, wake up in the basement of a half-flesh body horror scenario as we solve puzzles and kill flesh monsters to get to the surface
>get to the barn, open door and see giant heart demon being summoned from some sort of flesh hell
>we kill it after a long battle, other player's cleric begins sobbing, calling herself unclean
>tries to cast sacred flame on herself to suicide in her gods name
>DM says divine intervention kicks in, she is spared and feels nothing but his kindness, gives up trying to commit sudoku and accepts this sign
>epilogue is everyone finding out my character's house is on fire the same night we survive
>I reveal OOC that my character now having the correct ritual books and methods can now go on and recreate the ritual and expand off of it in experiments
>everyone is fucking speechless
>mfw

Is this how you play neutral evil?

Probably because I'm an idiot and didn't know that I could. I gave up looking far too quickly it seems. Ah well. Good learning experience.

ya did good kiddo

Hmm should my assassin
Pick
Expertise stealth and deception or stealth and thieves tools

Deception and stealth are usually contested rolls while thieves tools will always be at a set DC. Having higher contest rolls is much better in the long run.

Let's say a player wants to basically make molotov cocktails by bundling together a flask of alchemist's fire and a flask of oil and tossing the bundle at someone. Would you allow it? How would you handle damage - just stack the effects of both?

Related question: How would you handle multiple flasks of oil / alchemist's fires on one target?

Basically just retooling bonfire at that point, and as far as I know that shit doesn't stack.

I'd go Stealth and Deception at 1 and then pick up Thieves' Tools and Perception at level.. 6? I think it's 6 you get the second lot.

That's the most effective way, not always the funnest though. I'm a fan of taking Athletics and/or Sleight of Hand expertise for fun.

What are the best combat classes in 5e?

Best race for a Thief? Funnest race for one?

Aside from V. Human of course.

No Athletics is correct because if you want to stop getting shoved or if you want to climb things like a rogue you need it.

So many people don't appreciate the roguish talents of climbing anymore, in a lot of fights it can be the best defensive option to climb up somewhere with a crossbow.

flask of oil gives 5fire dmg per instance of fire damage received and alchemist fire causes 1d4 fire damage per turn until the person does a DC10 dex check to pat out the flames.
Provided the characters are above 4th level this kind of damage is obsolete. If they're below then allow it but make it either a tinker or alchemy check to successfully create one. The DC could be 11 or 12, and lowered every time they successfully create one. If they roll a nat 1 or 2 then the materials are broken and they sustain 1d4+5 fire damage until they pat out the flames.

It will be about 50.1 gold to create a single molotov if I remember correctly. 50 for AF and 1 silver for oil. If they can spend that kind of gold at 4th level let them do it. But state that you can't stack more than 1 molotov damage on a single creature and if it misses then the tile that it impacts will deal 1d4+5 fire damage for 1min before extinguishing.

And the oil cannot deal more than 5 fire damage to a single target per turn even if they receive more than 1 instance of fire damage.

It seems like an alright option to have if the players want to burn gold on it, and if they're smart enough to have someone use the help action when they make it I'm sure they would appreciate the advantage.

Go fey for that ua invocation that slows. Thorn whip gust the ice cantrip that slows
Cast grease and push and pull people through it
With some set up time you can use mold earth to dig pit traps and push or pull people in
Team up with the druid and push/pull people through a spike growth
Team up with someone w/ pam to push them out of their reach so they have to move in and proc a reaction attack later

Is the GM going to base his next one-shot off of that one? It's actually pretty good source material where the previous PC's can be guildmasters or questgiver npc's and the new PC's will be trying to stop your evil cleric from doing the ritual. Bonus points if a few of the old PC's accompany your group and die trying to help.

>Best
Probably Halfling

>Funnest
The largest race your DM allows.

So, I'm pondering a "Dragoon" fighter (as a DM, for a Final Fantasy inspired campaign). Anyways; I've been looking at the various homebrews, and realized that I mostly don't like them. Also, that they tend to be too one-note.

Here's what I'm thinking instead, tell me what you think:

Battlemaster Maneuver:
Leap: Spend a Superiority Die when using the Dash action to ignore any difficult terrain, and any obstacles that one could fly over; as you leap there. If you have the "Charger" feat, you add your superiority die to the damage roll of the attack made at the end of the dash.

Is that reasonable?

go look up a DMG for Dragon Shaman

Bugbears are always the funnet race for Rogues, also one of the better ones.

It's amazingly flavorful to play a serious character who's actually meant to be silent as a ghost and is huge. Playing one makes moments where you suddenly appear behind someone all the more impressive while not being comedic.

I'd honestly recommend a Barbarian for a Dragoon, just buff the Tiger totem's level 3 and change some fluff abilities.

Kenku Warlock/Rogue

Mask of many faces + devil's sight

Has anyone run a campaign with an Artificer? I'm curious as to their effectiveness and if the player had a good time playing one.

Eagle totem.

There's a good chance he'll incorporate it into our main campaign. I wouldn't be surprised if my cleric became a mid-boss or even BBEG.

I played one, they're alright. Not a bad class at all but still need some tweaking.

Personally I think keep it just as is with a few changes. Remove the bonus action reload from Gunsmith, remove Mechanical Servant and put in some combat ability, make them a Half-Caster and let them recover Magic Items they've lost over a short rest.

It's mostly little issues and the fact it has no reason not to be an Arcane Half-Caster.

Actually after looking at the options I might go GOOlock5/Sea1/Primeval Guardian X, refluffed as a horrible squid beast. Create THE ZONE OF FUCK YOU and move enemies around the map at my liesure.

Not a good fit. It's not a dragon mage, it's a heavily armored frontliner with a leap ability and Spears.

I'll check out the totem barbarians, I hadn't considered that.

If that falls through/doesn't match up well, though, does the maneuver seem reasonable?

...and I'm a retard and forgot Ranger is a WIS caster, not CHA. Lore Bard and stealing Spike Growth mite b cool.

What was horribly wrong with berserkers again? A friend of mine is playing one and I want to be able to at least fix whatever problems it has before he gets fucked playing it.

has anyone ever ran an underwater campaign? or spent a couple sessions underwater?

what are some plot hooks and what could be some reasons non-aquatic adventures would get involved under the sea/the plane of water?

Frenzy Barbs? Frenzied attack gives you exhaustion so the price is extremely steep for its payoff. Bear-bearians are hugely powerful compared to them.

Let him recover Exhaustion on a short rest and let the level 10 key off Strength not Charisma, that basically fixes the issues and makes it decent.

I don't see myself ever using it. If I wanted to jump into far enemies like that, I'd play a monk.

Uh... there's a literal dragoon subclass.

My main worry about doing it like that was that for 1 sp they could basically triple an alchemist's fire's damage. I guess you're right that even with that benefit it would rarely be worthwhile, though.

Yeah I'm reading over it now and its puzzling that they aren't half casters, along with Gunsmith basically being another form of ranger that does thunder-damage. Matt mercer's Gunslinger is way better thought out than this.

I'm more tired than I thought, I hadn't scrolled down to the actual frenzying part.

Perfect, I was thinking of making it a short rest to encourage using their stuff more with everyone else.