/5eg/ - Fifth Edition General

IIRC, there no hard and fast rule about monsters being proficient with anything. It just says that they're proficient with whatever they're listed as having.

Thus, if the DM wants to give them martial weapons, they're proficient in them.

Having full wizard spell progression is hardly 'shitty caster' unless you purposefully waste your spells.

If you wanted to disengage two opponents at once, use extra attack instead. You could make three attacks that way.
Otherwise, GFB/BB does almost as much damage as GFB/BB+bonus attack. I guess, considering you would probably be using a rapier.

But, eh, I suppose both work, it just feels like a lot of empty levels in fighter, though I suppose it's action surge, a bit of extra HP, +1 AC, + a feat and war magic. Though I'd still take fullcasting utility over that.

I am going to one of those DnD Shieldmeet things next weekend. What am I getting into? I just assume it is a hall filled with tables and shit.

Even if they're not proficient, they could still use them at a lower hit chance, in theory.

Make Halia Thornton a threat to rival the Black Spider or have them work together in secrecy.

>I think I fucked up with a couple of things

the town my players are in is your typical small town starting village before everything goes wrong. everybody knows each other and looks out for each other, that sort of deal.
they woke from a bandit attack in the tavern, level 1 and are now exploring the town and getting used to small town life this is how the campaign began

>first fuck up i think i did
the bandits took all their money leaving them with nothing but their weapons armour and trinkets, to comp them however i let them pick some magical weapons and armour
(literally a wooden box i made and painted with over 120 different and unique magical weapons/armour/items as "loot" they can take form it.)
should i have taken their money? i wanted them to start at the bottom but i feel that was being too unfair
i decided that the bandits had their "original starting money" locked away and whenever they defeated them that was their reward
is that a good way of doing it or am i taking my first steps on becoming THAT DM?

>second potential fuck-up
one of my players, a tabaixi Monk rolled a stealth check to listen in on what two people where saying at a table, he passed with a nat20 so i made it that he managed to learn an important clue that could help them out later, the problem was that he then went up to the tavern owner, a kind hearted middleage man and asked what those two people where talking about, and because it's the whole "small town thing where everyone knows each-other" the tavern owner got a tad bit hostile and said (in my very bad Scottish accent) to "Not be listening in on people's conversations please!"
i feel that i had just ruined the trope of "tavern owner who knows what everyone's problems are" and just shut my player out of doing that kind of stuff in future when it was actually really inspired.
how can i fix this?

So what class is the coolest necromancer?
>necromancer wizard for controlling a skellyman army
>undying warlock for transforming into a skellyman mage
>death cleric for increasing the power of necromancy blasty spells
>oathbreaker paladin for leading an army of skelemen into battle

It sounds like you did just fine. You gave them a clear goal to start out with, a few perks to show that they're destined for greatness, and a town to start in and help grow.

If you're worried about the second thing, then make it so that when they get the bandits, the town starts to trust them more, as they've proven their worth.

>the problem was that he then went up to the tavern owner, a kind hearted middleage man and asked what those two people where talking about
That should lightly bite him in the ass, assuming they're all new. Why would he make it known that he eavesdropped on people?

You sound like you're taking it overdramatically.

>No starting money
What the heck were you going to use that money for anyway if you have your starting gear?
There's no problem here and it sounds like a proper plot hook.
Only problem is if you gave them some bullshit magical items that unbalances everyone later. Personally I like the approach of giving people unique abilities instead of unique magical items to start with because you can't just transfer over all the magical items and also it works better for magic-hating characters and 'my character has unique properties without relying on some magical item to make them good at blacksmithing', but if they're not going to die this isn't much of an issue.

>Tavern owner
Just have them show a bit of friendliness or compassion so the players don't avoid them. Say, they come back from defeating some bad things, and he congratulates them and says he'll give them a round on the house.
Heck, even have him let them stay over if they need a place for free since 'Hey, you're planning on getting rid of some bad guys and I'd feel sorry for making you sleep out because your money was stolen. Just as long as you promise to get them back good.'

As long as a skeleton army enters into it somewhere, it's good. So I'd say it's a tossup between the Necromancer and the Oathbreaker.

>starting a 5e game with my family
>parents are both over 60
>father hasn't played since the early 80s, mother and brother have never played
>father is playing a thief who's only in it for the money
>mother is playing a barbarian who was kicked out of her tribe for being "too mean"
>brother is playing a goblin
How fucked am I?

Don't rob/jail/mind control players without gvign them at least the illusion of choice.
Don't give them magical shit they haven't' earned
If being told not to be a sneaky fuck by a tavern keeper is enough to discourage them they're not adventurer material.

Is there a way to consistently get skeletons over zombies when using animated dead? It seems like most of the time you are going to get zombies

Tell your father to get or think about in the future getting a different motivation, because past levels 3-5 gold is worthless and any adventurer who was in it for that already is rich and can stop risking his life.

That's feels like a stupid and trivial thing to look at the rulebook for, honestly. Just give them whatever weapon you feel is appropriate.

Yes, burn the bodies/feed the bodies to local wildlife first.

I've dug into this A lot because I love playing necromancers (probably why I also love to DM) and from what I've seen there is no RAW ruling on skeletons being proficient in anything other than what they are armed with in the PHB/ MM.

However, in the description of the skeletons in the MM, skeletons are quite smart. They will avoid obvious hazards, they know how to open doors, and they can be taught how to use all manner of weaponry, including siege weaponry. Basically, if skeletons don't have proficiency in something, they can be trained to use it. Finding a teacher for a skeleton army might be hard, but I'd say it is worth it if you have a DM willing to play ball with the idea.

ok thanks, that makes me feel better those are good ideas

probably assumed he wouldn't get told off for it?

>Only problem is if you gave them some bullshit magical items that unbalances everyone later.
>Don't give them magical shit they haven't' earned

It's a high magic campaign, magic is abundant and in every-day life
some examples:
the farm girl has an enchanted shovel that makes soil weigh very little when digging.
the tavern has enchanted glass mugs that are still brittle but less prone to shattering
the general store has his front door enchanted to ring when opened as well as a book that is self scribing and comes to life, updating the store's inventory when items are bought and sold.

my players have the loot box which contains more useful but still minor magic items
for instance, 'the fortune tellers orb - when hit by an enemy, you glimpse a random image of it's future or past' or the 'Defensive bracers - when you take a dodge action you may move an additional 5ft'

little stuff like that, perfect for low levels

How do you guys feel about adding abilities awarded via plot choices?

Let's say a potion of blood that'll allow a spellcaster to learn blood magic which allows them to convert health into spellslots/damage and a new spell options (taking these from 4e)

Those sound like really good low level magical items when I was expecting more bullshit like '+1 weapons' and '+1 shields' and '+1 armour'

Honestly it sounds like everything's perfectly fine. You're just being overly anxious.

I wouldn't give anything that makes you change that much. Maybe something at the level of a feat.

I want to run a "high fantasy" game, but my imagination can't seem to get past "European countries + Magic". What could serve for good inspiration?

Xanth novels by Piers Anthony.

I personally prefer necromancer over the other options. I'd rather buff my undead permanently than take any of the other options. Plus, I just like the flavor of studying necromancy, probably for years, to get your dark powers rather than calling upon the will of a god or other unholy being to get your powers.

Medieval China? Warring States period? You don't have to go all Oriental Adventures on it, just use the broad strokes as inspiration.

Monk monasteries dot the mountaintops, wizards travel from kingdom to kingdom offering their services and their philosophy, and priests urge their kings to conquer all to prove they hold the Mandate of the Gods.

Take Europe. Take a specific country within that continent. If you want a normal ass fantasy template to start with, take Britain or France, while if you want some more dark fantasy, take an Eastern Europe country. If you want seafaring, take a country on the Mediterranean,and if you want constant, almost city-state like wars, take the area that is now called Germany. Then start researching their history. It doesn't have to be much, maybe an audiobook detailing the country, or a wikipedia article, but I recommend finding one that goes into the aspects of politics between the ruling class and the ruled.

Now take the DnD magic abilities and overlay them. Think about how that country would be if it suddenly had magic that, assuming high fantasy, about 10% of the population could use at any time, and how far people could progress. Now take that, and fast forward two hundred to three hundred years. Think to yourself, "Would the old social order last? What kind of magic is considered good, and which is bad? Do common people still have access to it, and if the ruling class still exists, do they have easy access to higher levels of training?" Things like that. If they have lots of wars with neighboring areas, then take that into account. Give them magic, too, but you don't have to go into their history really, so long as it's colored by the main country's view you can use that.

This can work as a starting off point. I also recommend working in elements from other games, books, entertainment that you enjoy, to keep yourself from being extremely bored when making it if you aren't super into history.

Would a shotgun weapon that deals 4d4-1 be overpowered? I'm trying to make it unique without being a regular old 1 or 2dX, but I don't want it to be OP either.

Honestly doing it in Anatolia or the Crusader States might be fun. Like your party doesn't have to be literally crusaders/ottomans, the story just takes place there. It lets you bring most of the aspects of traditional high fantasy while having a slightly exotic twist.

What level, and how are spread, distance and drop-off taken into account? Single slug or Scattershot?

i'm this guy
the way i'm doing my high fantasy campaign is that all sub-races like dragonborn, half-elf, gnomes, drow etc are a common everyday people who are just like you and me, you might see a copper dragonborn butcher slowly cooking his fresh kill with his flame breath for a hungry half-orc customer

you could have almost everyone have the ability to use magic or at the very least ACCESS to magic, like a town witch/wizard

Shit should have specified, it would end up being -4 total, but I'd rather have it be 4d4.

>Oathbreaker Paladin Necromancer
Former Paladin who gave up everything to follow his his sense of justice, but as the years went on, his faith began to falter until a tragedy befell his loved ones/closest friends and became a fallen paladin, cursing the gods as he sulked in his own anger.

After years of researching in solitude, he finally manages to make a breakthrough in returning his loved ones to life, but not completely. They come back as unholy abominations. Undeterred, he continues to search for stronger magical artifacts said to hold the key to true resurrection of a soul.

He travels now with his former undead loved ones, taking extra care to give them the most protection he can give them, and enchanting their weapons so that they may serve him well until he can once more be reunited with his friends and family.

How would a small ritual to Kurtulmak, the god of Kobolds, look like?

The trick when designing new things is to ask "why would someone NOT want to use this?" If in most you can think of, it's outright better than another choice, it's overpowered.

So to start, a shotgun should have the Two-Handed, Loading, Ammunition qualities. That makes it comparable to a Heavy Crossbow, which is a d10 (5.5). But a Heavy Crossbow can benefit from Crossbow Expert, so let's say a shotgun cannot. That'll justify bumping its damage up somewhat, but you don't want it to be double. 4d4-1 is 9, but inherent pluses and minuses in weapon damage are messy. Lets do 2d8 (9) damage.

Now you have a weapon with distinct appeal, but isn't always the best choice, all the time. But it is appealing for a variety of builds.

It would be hopefully balanced for any level. The range will be low and spread is gonna be difficult to figure out... That was somewhat simulated with the d4s. Maybe it should be a save instead or something. Like Burning Hands only weaker.

>>Oathbreaker Paladin.

>Paladin has a child.
>child gets turned into a vampire
>Paladin refuses to kill their child
>can't bare the shame of having failed his oath
>can't bare the shame of having failed to protect his child
>turns Oathbreaker to keep them safe from OTHER paladins

AOE weapon attacks are a Pandora's box you may not want to open, user, even if it's not as much damage as a spell. A sawn-off shotgun may get a bonus to hit or something at the cost of severely reduced range (and perhaps no disadvantage within 5').

...continue.

I can accept the 2d8, but what if it's a ranged attack roll for the target, and a save to avoid damage within a 15-30ft cone? Of course I'd rather have it be more narrow, like 15ft wide and 30ft long to make it more like normal shotguns, and maybe the save should be like 10-15 DC, or against the gunman's Dex mod + Prof mod + 8 or something. But this requires proficiency.

The priest takes a small blood offering from the petitioners (cut on the hand or something), then burns it ritually with a spell to invoke the dragon's fire?

I recommend what says, as it's quite useful in terms of balance. For range, I would say a 60 foot range, but with three different range damages. If it's within 20 feet, then the full 4d4 damage should apply, but for a single target. If it's 21 to 40 feet, then 3d4 and you can hit two targets if they stand next to each other. And if it's 41 to 60 feet, then you can hit things within a 10 foot radius of the original target for 2d4. Or do what said and don't open the box.

Shotguns don't have nearly as much spread as you are thinking they do, and even if they did, they wouldn't hit everything in the cone for max damage, let alone more damage than any other weapon.

Weapons should be attack rolls, not saving throws. Again, this needs to not be something that is literally better than everything else in the game. That's the reason most homebrews are shit.

I am aware, I have fired shotguns before. A shotgun also would do far more than 4d4 damage. And the save would be low, like 10. So it's 50/50 for anyone without mods, and then they'd take half damage if they fail and none if they succeed. Also a 15ft spread isn't that much.

How would your party collapse a tunnel to prevent an enemy incursion, without themselves being trapped, Veeky Forums?

Cast Shatter at max range down the tunnel and run like hell the other direction.

well...

>vampires need to feed on blood
>paladin goes out for his (lets say daughter, because that's cute.) daughter
>picks up random people
>introduces himself with his full (ex)noble title
>convinces the poor schmuck to help the Paladin on his noble quest
>knocks them out
>takes them back
>gentle has to encourage his daughter to feed
>she doesn't know how, she just wants to have mom's chicken soup like a normal family and play outside again
>he has to show her the ways of the monsters he once hunted
>he quests for relics and items that will keep her safe in sunlight
>spends all his wealth on keeping her safe
>she grows up with PallyDad gone, just wants to be normal
>doesn't understand her body

>adventures keep coming to kill her
>she runs away
>doesn't want to hurt anybody
>PallyDad comes back to find her gone
>starts questing to find her.

>A shotgun would do far more than 4d4 damage
Yeah no, you're falling for your own muh guns meme. Damage from a longbow fired by an expert from within 100 feet is only 1d8, and bows are deadly as fuck.

If you're about to argue that your weapon is a modern shotgun, then for god's sake just play a different game than D&D, or make this a magic item with limited uses and not a regular every-round weapon.

;_;

Keep in mind 4d4 is already beyond overkill for the average commoner, soldier or a deer. Adventurers and the monsters they face on a regular basis are orders of magnitude more durable (or lucky, depending on how you narratively dictate AC) than people they would be normally expected to deal with.

You missed the point. I meant comparing it to a real shotgun, not other weapons. A bow would also deal far more damage, especially in the hands of an expert. I'm saying the range and spread would be unrealistic yet it would fit because the damage and such for other weapons are also unrealistic. So yes, 4d4 is fine damage in DnD, as is lower range and increased spread.

I'm enjoying this far more than I should.

D&D vampires undergo full-blown soul blackening into a predator, their former personality reduced to a layer of makeup and memories.

Just use shadowrun rules. It's simple enough

Necromancer 6 / Bard 6
Animate Dead, Song of Rest and Crusaders Mantle

>Clerics should have religion trained because they're fucking clerics and their concept is strength through divine faith
>Religion is an Int skill
>Clerics don't use Int at all
reeeeeee

but then you aren't getting create undead until level 17

>faith means you've read dozens of books and went to lecture about the subject
Being a Cleric doesn't imply the Religion skill at all. It's more likely that fat neckbeards (ie whizzhards) would have it trained because they enjoy refuting religious folk on fantasy internet

Yeah but that's boring. Reluctant vampires are great characters.

Religion skill is more about knowledge of other religions.
There's no reason a Cleric of Ilmater should know how others worship other gods like Silvanus, only a theologian (i.e. bookworm wizard) should know this stuff.

Does anyone else dislike how charisma is the spellcasting ability for warlocks and sorcerers? Like, I understand the reasoning behind it but it means that a powerful sorcerer and warlock is going to be charismatic, even if you're some hermit who lives all alone and hates people. For bards it makes the most sense but I feel like the other classes should use wisdom or constitution.

Which is why you have Religion (Inteligence) checks and Religion ( Wisdom) checks

So are zombie professors and tapdancing whales.

I want to play a pirate character so bad I wish I had more time for d&d

It's not really canon, but I like to think of the average cleric as more likely to be a deeply devout farmboy who knows little about official theology than the actual clergy of the religion, something that annoys the priests and bishops to no end.

It's supposed to represent force of personality but I understand what you're saying. Sorcerers could have been WIS just as easily but there were already plenty of WIS casters.

I agree with you on Warlocks. Warlocks either need to be Intelligence for their knowledge of the supernatural, Wisdom to reflect their awareness of spiritual matters, or somehow remove the need for such a stat entirely from the class to represent how ANYONE can get involved in such demonic chicanery.

Sorcerers simply intuitively working magic through Willpower is perfectly fine, and Charisma has been that for a while.

No they're not, they're boring and overused.

How about Oath Breaker 9 / Warlock X?

Infinite skellies once you hit warlock 5. If it's a Hexblade warlock you can also mix it up with your own skellies in melee and the aura damage bonus is actually quite nice.

I actually think Warlocks make perfect sense as CHA.

Think about how you get your powers. To become a Warlock, you have to have been able to bargain with a being that will most likely be hostile to your existence, if not above it entirely, disregarding the shitty fluff of neo-Undying Light or whichever one was in the Class Revision UA. So it makes sense most Warlocks cast from CHA, as they needed to be able to persuade someone to get that power in the first place.

>So are zombie professors and tapdancing whales.

Maybe..

but a (imo) much better idea would be zombies who still understand they where ONCE human and now beg for death for fear of their souls and that they might hurt someone, but still crave flesh

could you imagine

>a wailing mob approaching your small barricade they scream and plead with you to end their lives climbing over each other desperate to be killed by your holy weapon and released from their hell
>but also unable to hold back their hunger for your flesh
>they swarm over one of your paladin friends screaming at him in a thousand angry voices
>they kill him
>then they turn to you...
>"KILL US HELP US!"

>who still understand they where ONCE human and now beg for death

youtube.com/watch?v=9CP30zgAw2o

>have a character concept for a sorcerer knight who's just as freaked out by the sudden onset of his magical abilities as everyone else is
>wanted his flaw to be a lack of confidence; he's awkward and anxious and a little cowardly* and while he may follow the orders of others loyally, he flounders with indecision by himself
>intended for his backstory to be that he left his soldier unit because he was afraid he couldn't control his powers

but these traits are antithetical to the mechanics of the Sorcerer, unless I purposely sabotaged myself with low Charisma. Sure I could just inject it into roleplay but disruption between form and function in character design always jostles me

*not the memey cowardly where he'll be too scared to do anything ever, more like Courage the Cowardly Dog where he'll just be surprising himself all the time with what he's really capable of doing when the stakes are high

stone sorcerer with low cha works fine

Stone Sorcerer is definitely what I'd want to be, but the thing is, if I totally did dump Charisma then I'd be limited to just utility spells or buffs. I'd still want to fling the occasional fire bolt and such.

At least Magic Missile is indifferent.

New UA is on the 10th. WotC is closed tomorrow.

People dont talk about it, because all sensible gamemasters have it banned.

Charisma isn't necessarily self-confidence. There are self-depreciating, humble or insecure people who are still liked.

Blade spells are actually also pretty good., and aren't going to use your CHA.

Greenflame Blade pretty explicitly uses your casting modifier, though at higher levels it's insignificant compared toe the d8s you'll be adding.

Those weren't actually WotC made, I think some other guy actually owns the rights to them.

Personally I'd bet on Twilight Druid, Horizon Walker, Hexblade or Forge Cleric being one of them.

Anyone here try out the Seeker UA Patron for Warlocks? I really like the flavor of it but I'm not certain of its viability. It clearly focuses on a more up close, aggressive Warlock as you're basically using all your slots during the refuge feature, and the special 5 minute short rest also reinforces that. I do think the Pact of the Tome fits best flavor wise but Blade seems to be a good fit too. What does everyone else think?

Maybe dump Wis and Int, put those points into Strength/Con instead.

He lacks the sense of mind that magic tends to make things easier; he was always a man of muscle and steel, and he'll always use that approach first. If someone points out that he has magic that could make things better/easier/quicker, he'll shrug it off as 'not the way I do things'.

Not exactly what you wanted, but maybe this helps?

They were written by a guy (Dan Helmick) who was a WotC employee at the time, WotC still owns the rights to all of them.

>Horizon Walker
It's already confirmed to be on XTE, I think they consider it already done

I was already fully willing and planning to dump WIS, mostly because I saw him as impulsive, easily manipulated, lacking foresight, etc. It just made sense. I originally hatched the character concept as a Battle Master Fighter (and I might still take a two level dip for Action Surge) with WIS/CHA as my dumps. But then a sorcerous origin made a lot more sense for the character; magic suddenly manifesting leans into it moreso than studying magic and getting bullied for it or something.

made a good point that maybe I'm boxing Charisma too tightly; if it's not self-confidence and charm, then maybe it could just be determination and heart.

I see this character as very Spider-man like, honestly: some poor, shy, outcasted youngster gets wild powers and has no idea what to do with them., and they learn a real bad lesson when they don't use those powers well.

Ask to use something else for your casting stat. There's already too many charisma casters and giving sorcerers a slight boon wouldn't unbalance anything.

Well, honestly, what you need is a fair DM that gives everybody bonuses to flesh out their character.

Help me name this item /5eg/

This component pouch is made from leather tanned from hide stripped from a devil. While attuned to this item, a ranger knows extra spells equal to his Wisdom modifier, and he can change all his spells known at dawn of each day.

The flavor is supposed to be a hint of forbidden knowledge that gives a ranger a bit more versatility.

I'd much rather put it into INT, yeah; what sucks the most about this character concept is that I'd be getting the most bonuses only to the skills that the character themselves wouldn't or shouldn't be good at. Why would this awkward nerd be good at Performance? Persuasion? It could be spun as a "coming into their own," "not knowing their true talents" story but like, I don't /want/ those to be their talents.

I've just been spinning this character around and if there's no dice on petitioning the DM, then I guess I'll go Eldritch Knight. I'd imagine an understanding-enough DM would allow an INT sorcerer, but I feel like too many characters I make require some form of stipulation or asterisk and I was hoping to play this one by the book.

Tainted pouch

Devilish bag

Hellish sack

Corrupted container

Godless Basket

The Satanic Satchel of Supplementary Spells