/5eg/ Fifth Edition General

Hey guys, I'm currently setting up a campaign for my first time as a DM, and I was hoping I could get some help on something specific.

I'm pretty alright at creative writing so I'm working to create a really interesting narrative, have created my own world with a thorough background etc etc.

To engage the players even more, I had this idea about having personal goals/quests/objectives for each character. Just a single side-plot for each individual that they can undertake during the campaign, ignore completely if they want, or convince the party to help them do it. They've all given me their player backgrounds/bios ahead of time so I can tailor these personal quests. To add an extra dynamic, I wanted to set it up in a way where the objective would be revealed to the player in a way that the other players wouldn't realise anything has happened.

Something along the lines of an NPC mentioning a place/person who exists only in a certain character's background. That way, the player would be aware that it is something for their character, and then have the option of telling the party about it.

As incentive for keeping it a secret, I imagined something like, only the player would receive a reward if nobody else knew about it, but it would be more difficult to achieve without informing the party. I'm still really in love with the idea, but really struggling as to how I'd actually implement it in a way that isn't horribly shoehorned into the middle of a campaign - especially when each player will have their own personal quest.

Anybody got any experience with this sort of thing, or just general tips for making it a smoother plot point?

>What are your most creative uses of cantrips?
It's a tie
Either
>Be me, first level halfling sorcerer
>Be sneaking through goblin caves, disguised as a gobbo to 18 CHARISMA my way out if need be
>Crude map I had led me to McGuffin chamber
>Heroically burst door open to reveal the throne room of gobbo warboss
>Without missing a beat, I declare myself as "Glargnazz, Magical Muffin Salesman"
>Incredulous room, incredulous warboss
>Not to be deterred, I pull a muffin I had previously looted and cast light on it
>Warboss is stunned and enthralled, offers me anything for that fucking muffin
>I stroll out with the McGuffin and a new false identity (which would end up being very recurrent)

or

>be me, low level human druid
>be trying to distract some villagers in a stable so we can sneak by them
>I send my raven familiar in to talk to them
>"Hey, you guys wanna see something cool?"
>One of them passes both the perception and wisdom checks to understand him
>"Wha-at?"
>"I said, do you guys wanna see something... Cool?"
>The braver of the two nods enthusiastically
>My raven hops over to a sack of barley, and tears a hole in it, causing some to spill out
>Cast druidcraft
>Bam, barley shoots
>Slight applause
>Raven backs up and waves wing over torn sack
>Cast Mending
>Louder applause
>Druidcraft to snuff out the lanterns in the stable
>Cast Produce Flame through my familiar
>He juggles the orb, before throwing it into the air where it produced a small firework
>Loud applause, we didn't even have to roll stealth

They make pretty good paladins and sorcerers, in my experience. Their apartment nobility lends well to those roles and forms easily-adaptable backgrounds.

Sounds like an eager sword to me. Maybe he has a bonus to hit on people with less initiative than him and can be called into his hand even if its across the room.

Minor illusion to create the sound of riders approaching, and pretending it's reinforcements
One of my fave combos in recent memory is our swashbuckler fiendlock. She uses mage hand to move around a rock she had cast darkness on during a fight.

requesting best v.human wizard cantrip
im creating an astrologer divination wizard who claims to "see into the future"
have been told lucky is good but arcanist and alert also seem like strong contenders

>v.human
>div wiz

Wew.

>cantrip
Do you mean feat?

Also, ditch v. human and go halfling for the full luck meme build.

Prestidigition gets a lot of love here, but I think it is still underrated.
It basically makes you Jesus.
>find a regular guy in town
>use Prestidigitation to give him an uneasy feeling and a black mark on his skin
>approach him later within the hour, tell him that he has been cursed
>offer to end the curse, wave your hand across him, make your hand glow and make a magical sound, snuff out a nearby fire for additional effect
>end your 'curses' on him, give him a warm, comfortable feeling and a pleasant odor, re-ignite the nearby fire
>you now have a religion based on you

>using create water to make a pool to summon a watery fist
>using minor illusion to distract a monster so our ranger could get out of melee range
>combining mage hand and a bag of holding to vacuum up a room full of loot

yes i ment feat, sorry was thinking about the cantrip the arcanist feat gives you

I use guns in my homebrew world. They're just the guns from the dmg. They're not spectacular or overpowered like most of what Veeky Forums says. I don't know where they get that idea from

I signed a contract with Mage Hand.
When I later broke that contract, the arbiter found that I hadn't truly signed, and therefore was never beholden to the contract.
Not guilty, y'all got to feel me.

Ah the Violet Baudelaire defense

What's the best character for murdering spellcasters? I was thinking of a Fighter/Thief with the Mage Slayer feat.

It's your will controlling a hand, and by extension pen, to sign, in your name.

How is it not binding just because it wasn't a physical hand signing?

Can someone point me to where the erotic homebrew provided a few weeks ago is stored?

No, you can't use ensnaring strike and swing with it.

anything with counterspell, really

An Oath of the Ancients has Aura of Protection (add charisma to saving throws) and Warding (resistance to spell damage) while an Abjurer has Spell Resistance (advantage on spell saving throws and resistance to spell damage). Monk's Stunning Strike will ruin anyone's day and Diamond Soul grants proficiency in all saving throws. Bards, Clerics, and Rangers can cast Silence while Bards, Eldritch Knights, Arcane Tricksters, Warlocks, Sorcerers, and Wizards can cast Counterspell. Clerics and Wizards can cast Antimagic Field. Every spellcaster, except the Ranger, can cast Dispel Magic.

I'm playing a V.Human Arcana Cleric melee meme build with Magic Initiate Druid for Shillelagh in an upcoming game, starting at level 3.

At what point should I pick up Warcaster for OA Booming Blades?

How often can you force OA?

If you don't have any of the items yet and run into a vampire/vampire spawn in CoS, dousing said vampire in water and animating it as a mobius strip around said vampire is an auto 20 damage / regen cancel every turn.

Command is a first level Cleric spell that can do it.

Chink flavor Mystic can spam counterspell all day erry day.

Depends on what your DM qualifies as running water. I would definitely let it count just for fun, but I know a saddeningly large number of DMs that wouldn't.

Because I like giving people the option to take a level 1 feat if they want one while also giving people the option to pass on said feat for a basket of racial goodies.

When we're running gridless I use Mike Shea's system: slyflourish.com/guide_to_narrative_combat.html s3.amazonaws.com/slyflourish_content/5e_guide_to_narrative_combat.pdf

I think it hits the sweet spot between not being so crunchy that I might as well have gotten grid out, but not so fluff that it feels like nothing matters except for damage dice.

It seems like both humans are designed to fill game niches: normal humans are a solid choice for MAD characters and variants for feat-heavy characters.

Depends on if you're going in for a solo kill or if you're just trying to tangle them up so other people can lay the actual hurt.

Laws hinge on weirder things.

Lucky, obviously.

Hey /5eg/, I was thinking of homebrewing a sort of Mana-vampire race for a setting I'm working on. I figure giving them Counterspell as a racial would be flavorful but a little too strong. But here are the traits I've thought up so far.

+2 Con, +1 Wis

Manavore: You know the Resistance cantrip. Once you reach 3rd level you can cast Absorb Elements. Once you reach 5th level you can cast Counterspell as a 3rd level spell using Wisdom as your spellcasting modifier; you must finish a short or long rest in order to cast these spells again using this trait.

Manavoid: Due to your mutant physiology you cannot cast spells through any means except your racial traits.

Arcane Absorption: As a reaction, when you succeed on a spell save, you may regain 1d4+Con hitpoints

---------------------------------

The background is that the setting is based around this Lich who built an empire and has been effectively ruling the world unchallenged for millenia, the whole planet is shrouded in perpetual darkness and the living are forced to work underground. After a few hundred generations of getting kicked around by Evil spellcasters mutant anti-magic freaks have started multiplying in the lowest barrows. So these guys would be like, magic eating morlocks or something. Should I give them Sunlight Sensitivity? That would make sense. Not sure how the balance is, these are just flavorful traits really.

wait shit I fucked up editing that. It's supposed to be short or long just for Absorb Elements, Counterspell is just long rest. That's what I get for trying to make it neater.

But then you are using your spell slot resource to cast a cantrip. Don't you see what's wrong with that? You need something like Dissonance Whisper to make it worthwhile.

Parry is such a stupid reaction.

Does anybody have a great noble's mansion as a map for roll20 at hand?

Alright.

So they have stats that align them as a WIS frontline caster like Cleric, but they can't cast spells. They will be worse then anyone with +1 STR or DEX at every class they can play. So they're gonna be behind everyone.

They're locked into 4 classes.

They can have unlimited healing just by haivng an ally spam something like light on you.

Honestly this race is just badly made. 5e only ever gives very minor penalties, only being able to play 4 classes where you'll suck at all of them is silly.

Personally I'd go for Yuan-ti Magic Resistance, once per long rest Absorb Elements and something like Stones Endurance from the Goliath but only for spells. Remove the no spellcaster thing and instead just don't give them a +1 modifier to any spellcasting stats making them worse then other races at it.

Are we getting any new races with XGtE?

Probably just revamped UA ones if anything.

>Guns are neat but they can't be well balanced with everything else unless they're just reskinned crossbows.
...So then make them reskinned crossbows. As someone who lives in a rural area and fucks around with guns regularly, let me dispel this idea that they are magic death sticks. Taking a crossbow bolt to the lung will fuck you up as hard as taking a 9mm to the lung. As long as someone slashing a greatsword into your meaty bits only deals 2d6 + Strength damage, there's no reason for guns to be hilariously absurd. I've been running 5E with "custom" guns basically since it came out, and never experienced any real issue with it. And my most recent group included a doomsday prepper from work which led to us playing in a room with a half-dozen pistols, carbines, ARs, and shotguns.

Well holy shit is Strahd a little bitch in a fight.

All it took was 2 rounds, 5 Stunning Strikes, 1 Turn Undead and a Daylight spell to have him dead.

How is Tempest Cleric?

Looks like a weird mix of blaster and martial, everything about it looks fun.

I would try and get booming blade somehow, that would be pretty amazing on a level 6 tempest cleric.

I just want to play a cleric who isn't a healbot, and tempest looks like the way to go

Minotaurs when?

>He thinks Strahd is actually dead.

That works IRL, not in a world with dragons and everything else.

Oh for fuck's sake. Is there some bullshit beyond killing the prick in sunlight, running water or his coffin?

Hopefully he can give a better fight next time though.

I feel like in a world where every two bit conjurer can pull this sort of bullshit, people are a lot more skeptical.

You're right. This was a fairly low magic campaign. Perhaps distant magic would be a better term.
It's a style of setting that I like: where magic and the like is real and people know about it, but it's not usually a part of their everyday lives.

That's some fucked logic, real world contracts are valid regardless of what you "sign" or how you sign it. You could sign "NOT VALID" with a pen in your butt, and its still binding.

anybody?

>You could sign "NOT VALID" with a pen in your butt, and its still binding

Uh, does that actually count as acceptance? Because it looks like you wiped your ass with the contract.

Make sure the players like keeping secrets at the table. Some don't.

>Uh, does that actually count as acceptance? Because it looks like you wiped your ass with the contract.
People have tried to use fake names, sometimes as obviously as Mickey Mouse, to nullify contracts, but its always shot down as a defense. The act of signing is all that matters, it doesn't matter how you did it, or what you wrote. The only real defense is if you were coerced, or the contract is illegal in some way to begin with.

>expecting perfect logic from a medieval inspired society
>expecting perfect logic from a medieval inspired society that also has lol magic

I could feasibly see the specific wording of the contract law of a town as something to the effect of 'a person who signs a contract is bound to the terms of said contract'.
A person didn't actually sign that contract, a spectral hand did. With that in mind, I could see a cunning wizard weaselling his way out of conviction, especially considering that wizards are generally a great deal more intelligent than regular people.

Contracts don't function as a system if you allow for loopholes like that. You don't get points for being clever, you get shut the fuck down for being a lawbreaker.

I want to build a hex map of my world. What the simplest way of doing that in a way that won't be super ugly (blank hex grid + bucket fill)?

Draw map, transparent hex overlay.

Not entirely true. Some forms of contract in Germany for example require a certain style of contract or even signature (some require you to sign with your full name.

Yeah I've told them it's what I want to do and they all seem keen, my issue right now is just.. how to do it.

>allow for loopholes
Isn't that a bit of a contradiction?

>You don't get points for being clever
But that happens all the time.

>Isn't that a bit of a contradiction?
No, because its the act of not allowing it to fly that shuts it off.

It's not a functional loophole if the result is "no, fuck you".

I think that any judge would fear for his career if he is sentencing unilaterally based on "no, fuck you" instead of the law.

Again, you're not entirely correct. Formal flaws of a contract can without a doubt nullify the contract ex tunc.

There was a case in which a company was sued for the cost of a Harrier fighter jet, as they had listed it in a commercial as a potential reward. The case was ruled in the companies favor, essentially because "no, fuck you, you don't get a harrier for buying soda".

Flaws within a contract can nullify it, intentionally mis-signing a contract is not a way to do that.

>anecdote
>an entirely different situation

We don't know that. The law of the land in the world might be that it's a formality that you HAVE to sign it yourself. Physically.

The logic behind that could be that a Mage Hand cannot clearly be attributed to the person signing. Somebody might as well just act like its the hand of the supposed signer.

So, what they did to counter that is simply prohibiting signing shit with something not detached to your body entirely.

That's called legal precedence, it's what matters in court when making a ruling.

>Allow us to craft this legal system, in which we intentionally allow for loopholes, simply to fuck over the non-magical people of the realm.

Unless you are going for "letter of the law, upheld by magic and not man" or intentional corruption, this makes no sense.

The person having the mage sign could've known this. Should've known this.

This may have been widely known and long established law to counter mages fucking over non-mages by using mage hand to sign contracts and then saying the non-mage did it.

lol, common law and precedence judgement doesn't mean shit in most of the world, so why would it in the fantasy world?

Or they had just not even conceived of such an occurrence while writing the law.

>Anybody got any experience with this sort of thing, or just general tips for making it a smoother plot point?

Have you ever played or ran Paranoia? It's not quite what you're talking about (The sidequest stuff usually gets so out of hand it ends up replacing the main plot), but there's lots of good material/ideas there.

If that were the case, they wouldn't have specified that contracts are only valid when sighed physically, because what's the alternative? Even stamping is a physical act.

Hell, even if it were something strangely archaic arbitrarily, such as "your name, written by your own hand" mage hand is still your hand.

Where is the distinction, and why is that specifically written.

Now, if we are in a mage centric society, that flaunts its power over the downtrodden, then sure, fuck it. In a world attempting to operate fairly via contracts, this is asinine.

They could live in a society, maybe, where mage hand is in fact not recognized as your hand?

What's so hard about understanding that?

not in any country that isn't burgerland

So what, it's up to each individual judge to make decisions independently?
That makes who rules on a case even more of a big deal than it is here.

>when Americans think that their legal system is, by any means, the most influential one and should be used in Fantasy worlds

Blue - Civil law
Red - Anglo law.

then why wasn't the dude called out instantly? Imagine you going somewhere to make a contract and you have your dog sign, people wouldn't bbe fine with it.

The fact that, in the history of this fantasy world, either no one has done this before, or it has happened before and not been fixed.

>That makes who rules on a case even more of a big deal than it is here.
No, other countries usually got a functioning legal system.

Then what the fuck is brown

I'll take a look, thanks!

has anyone ever taken Strahd out of Barovia to use as a higher level villain?

What a non-answer. Laws must be interpreted by someone, they aren't math, but written word.

>So what, it's up to each individual judge to make decisions independently?
>That makes who rules on a case even more of a big deal than it is here.

No, it literally does the opposite. Do you have any idea what civil law does?

It IS fixed if they say that mage hand is not a valid way to sign a contract, the contract partner had a good chance to know this and still failed knowing it.

For example, if I go out and give a person the proxy authority to sign a contract in a name, but don't do it with all formalities attached and that individual goes out and signs a contract in my name, that contract is null and void and the property exchanged needs to be returned to their respective owners.

All because a legal contract formality was not viewed as valid.

Now, you could try to prove bad intent in this, which would essentially enable the person that had the supposed proxy sign the contract to sue for compensation of his damages, but that's a whole different legal matter. The contract is not valid.

Bijuridical

>/5eg/ - Law

>No, it literally does the opposite. Do you have any idea what civil law does?
No, which is why i asked. I know the legal system of my country, i have, generally, little need to know any other.

You can always appeal to a higher court.
But this way law isn't bound set by a single dude from the judiciary, but actually gets set by the legislature as it should be.
And a well formulated law leaves needs no interpretation.

I, for one, am enjoying it.
I had no idea about the common law/civil law dichotomy.

>complaining about law discussion
>being a chaotic fag
look at him and laugh.