/5eg/ - Fifth Edition General

I'm fine with those as long as they work with you beforehand on it. But half the time they're planning something devious and won't tell you until it happens.

>Have you or your players ever met any "classic" D&D characters like Drizzt, Bruenor, Volo, or Elminster? How did you or your DM portray them?
Had to save Volo from nearly certain death back during 2e, but no to any of the other guys.
>Are you happy that WotC is finally moving away from the Sword Coast?
The Sword Coast isn't nearly as boring as Wizards of the Coast has managed to make it, but it IS overused and there's a lot of other places in the Realms.
>Barring Chult and the Tomb of Annihilation, where would you like to see future adventures set?
Tethyr or Amn for Intrigue and politics.
Cormyr for politics of a different sort.
The Bloodstone lands because it would be rad to fight Zhengyi the Witch-King again.
Westgate for crime stuff.
Mulhorond and Unther for Egypto-potamian goodness, maybe with some Red Wizard Dickery thrown in.
The Shaar for something way offbeat.
Kara-Tur and the Shou Empire for Asian stuff.

New DM here, what's some quick guidelines you, as a player, like your DM to follow when it comes to tying NPCs into your character's/the group's backstory?

Things like preferring to approach the DM vs them approaching you?

>Barring Chult and the Tomb of Annihilation, where would you like to see future adventures set?

Thay

Just communicate with your players on what they'd prefer and respect their wishes.
Actually actively conversing with your players rather then just guessing and hoping for the best helps a lot.

>DM introduces a roleplaying opportunity for a 5e player
>AHHHHHHHHH NO GET ME OUT

Typical.

Thay itself is not that hot a region for adventures since it's a tightly regulated tyranny ruled by crazy wizard assholes, but that entire region Thay is IN with Thay being the main villains is solid gold.

We finally ran into some undead in the campaign I'm in. Felt really good to toast most of them at once using Turn/Destroy Undead.

If the DM wants to add people to my character's history, I would appreciate a heads up. I usually only have a barebones concept of what people are in my character's life, so someone added to it doesn't affect me too much, but i am also not well prepared to have whole relationships spring up on me out of the blue. Mostly due to me being a very strong introvert with few interpersonal relationships.

Is there anything that gives a player a spell like ability that refreshes on a short rest?

5e is about adventuring
not about gay roleplaying
actually they shouldnt call it an RPG anymore it's an APG

The warlock class

Shadow and Elemental Monks essentially get their spells back after a short rest.

I was thinking like a feat or magic item or something that refreshes on short rest.

Something anyone could get.

what EXACTLY are you looking for? Is this for a build or a reward for a player? The more detail we can get, the better we can help you.

Shit would be OP as fuck

>5e is about adventuring
And World of Darkness is about investigating supernatural cults and whatever the fuck. It's still a roleplaying game and so is D&D 5e.

I'm the dm.

I'm looking for something to use as a precedent to balance a homebrew racial feat around.

>player asks if he can flank every single turn
NNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOO NO NO NO

World of darkness is a sociological highschool simulator, dressed up as monster horror.

What's the best way to build a Red Mage in 5e? Can you even do it as a Int-based student of various magical styles? Best I've come up with is a Celestial Pact of the Blade Warlock

>to balance a homebrew racial feat around.
ABANDON SHIP!

Valour Bard.

Also an Arcana Cleric with Magic Initiate Druid for shillelagh does all magic styles and melee I guess.

You can't keep shield of faith and spirit guardians up at the same time.

Arcane Trickster

Mobile, Damaging, and in true Red Mage fashion, shit at actual general magic.

>make it clear to the DM we all know flanking damage isn't a thing
>only mention flanking IC for flavour
>DM gets shitty every time

yes I know, I stated as such two replies prior to that "the concentration spell is only for two AC, most of the time, when i spent my concentration on something else, it was offensive-defense" a 2 AC loss in exchange for the ability to kill everything around me or to isolate or debuff enemies is more than a fair trade. Especially when it means i'll be hit on a 17 instead of a 19.

I mean I'd be up for it, I would have liked if I had some amount of a heads up
>Hey user I'm gonna throw in an old friend of yours, she's held as a prisoner for questioning about your whereabouts cause you were a a deserter from this kingdom's military
Even at character gen since I had this general backstory laid out early on.

>Instead of immediately healing a downed player character, healing spells grant one successful death saving throw
>Once a downed player character has stabilized by getting three successful death saving throws, they immediately gain all HP granted by healing spells cast on them while they were down

Anyone used a rule similar to this? I'm mulling over using something like this for Tomb of Annihilation. Would this be a good solution to "death tanking" and make healing word and other bonus action healing less able to negate player incapacitation?

>play without homebrew races to fit the campaign.
That only works if there's options that cover everything from your setting that you want in your campaign already written.

>always play without homebrew.
Basically means "only play gurps, fate and hero."

Hell, I'd end up brewing to run faerun in 5e, converting shit (on demand from players) from 2e and 3e that 5e has no good analogue of.

If homebrew wasn't an option, I'd only be able to use 3.5 for faerun, only be able to use 2e and 3.5 for planescape, only be able to use 3.5 and 4e for eberron, and only be able to use 2e and 4e for dark sun.

And building my own setting to use in d&d would just be a non option.

Good decision, now you've made all healing worthless, as opposed to 90% of it.

My players met Drizzt in OotA as well as all the others mentioned in the book.

One player had a drow fetish and tried to add him to her harem but Drizzt already loves someone

I'm trying to plan ahead and pick the best borrowed spells for my Lore Bard's Magical Secrets. Are the following good spells to pick?

Spiritual Weapon
Find Steed
Fly
Haste
Enlarge/Reduce
Guiding Bolt (to replace Faerie Fire?)

Yeah, so...

Cleric isn't really better for that (having higher AC), because they're dropping the 2 AC of Shield of Faith to be killier or otherwise do other things.

While EK has little else to use their concentration on, so they end up at the same AC spot.

Do you understand? Yes, Forge Cleric can have higher AC. But they won't, because they're going to have better things to spend their Concentration on than maintain the buff that pushes them to having a higher AC.

Ok but it just means less play time for your players

Nothics. During session zero i always have my players provide me with a secret, for both potential plot reasons and in case of Nothics.

Also I forgot to mention, I'm going much more for utility/support above all else. Spiritual Weapon is for whacking things while I do other spells.

Wait. Does drizzt show up in Oota?

I'm gonna run that soon.

Guiding Bolt and Spiritual Weapon are tons of fun
If you're going for utility/support, Bless could be a good thing to have in your back pocket.

>Do you understand? Yes, Forge Cleric can have higher AC. But they won't, because they're going to have better things to spend their Concentration on than maintain the buff that pushes them to having a higher AC.

yes their AC will be 1-2 behind EDK, but you're ignoring their ability to lower enemy hit chance, cast shield far more often than the EDK, and being able to isolate enemies from the combat.

I played both Forge Cleric and EDK at the same levels, FC is superior to the EDK when it comes to defense.

No he is mentioned very briefly on a chance roll on a chance rolled encounter. I inserted him myself along with a few other things

This is probably a retarded question, but here goes:

Anyone think it's possible to make guns and scifi shit work with 5E? Shit, even 4E if I had to. My group wants to try something less fantasy, but I know if I ask them to learn the arcane fucking rules of Eclipse Phase or The Sprawl or Cypher System, that they will balk and lose interest.

Asking them to determine rolls by the lowest number for no discernible reason, making them count health via clocks, determining checks with vague 'cool' and 'style' shit instead of clear cut skills like intimidation or charisma- I can see from ten miles away that they will not be able to learn this crap.

There's specifically a section for 'alien technology' that gives modern and futuristic weaponry. Straight outta the DMG for you, user.

What this user said. That said, the best Sci-Fi games i've run have been GURPS. Maybe keep an eye out for Starfinder coming next month ? It's Paizo so might be shit, but sounds like they're cutting a lot of the crap from 3.PF.

absolutely, it's called "refluffing"
longbow? Nope, Pulse Rifle.
Longsword? Vibro-Sword.
Greataxe? Power Axe.
Hand Crossbow? Pistol.
Magic? Psionics.

GURPS has endless pages for every conceivable sort of weapon or futuristic device. It's pretty exhaustive, really - from laser pistols to mini-nukes to not just antimatter bombs/cannons but Reality Disruptors, monofilament wire, and so forth.

If you're looking for inspiration, the higher-tech GURPS sourcebooks are chock full of stuff you could steal.

Yeah but that falls apart when you realize everyone still has to be a class. And let's be honest, they'll all want guns.

I can't have four fucking archers running around.

Unless you want to make the game feel more lethal and want everyone only using ranged weapons (which you full well might want given sci-fi) you'd probably be better of just refluffing existing weapons and changing their damage types and maybe a few qualities.

Valour Bard and Bladesinger Wizard are probably your best options.

But then everyone has a long range weapon as their primary means of attack and the entire game breaks.

Gotta give an equalizer if you want to still have melee while folks are running around with laser pistols; a shield that blocks ranged attacks most of the time, armor that prevents the first shot or two of otherwise deadly damage, and so on.

Make melee combat part of the setting hten. If all your players are using bows in normal D&D what happens? They get fucked over when melee groups get the drop.

Same thing in D&D sci-fi. If none of your players want to be a spellcaster or guy with an energy sword then they're going to have to deal with enemies using those tricks against them.

Kind of, yeah. That's why I would usually just refluff with using crossbow stats for guns or whatever. What I used for guns in a semi-modern fantasy game once was just hand crossbow=hand gun only I changed the qualities so that instead of loading it was loading (x) with x being the amount of times it could be used before needing a reload, and I also gave guns the "loud" quality, which was mostly situational, but just meant you can't really hide your location after using them and in an enclosed enough space you might risk temporarily deafening someone (possibly yourself)

Have you looked at Mongoose's version of Traveller?

I haven't put too much time into it but I enjoyed what I have, and I think it might be a lot more fit for purpose than modifying 5e.

Its slightly different than DnD (no HP for example; damage hits against your attributes), but overall its close enough that I don't think its difficult to learn. Even looking at the character sheet its pretty similar.

Since it seems likely that you still have writer's block, consider these three event starters.
>Drug-overdosed rampage that the PCs have to respond to urgently.
>Drug manufacturing accident (it's demonic right?) calls the PCs attention to the center of operations.
>Drug kingpin sends minions to take out whoever's snooping around.
All three can serve up extra clues towards the one responsible.
>Quickening cantrips is a inefficient way to spend SP
It's alright for dragon sorcerers after level 5 for single target damage, but that ignores all the other types of sorcerer and the less crowded niche of fireballs and fireball-likes.
>They just say "I cast Bypass Obstacle"
And the DM says "OK, roll" because few of these spells are repeatable, reliable, and consequence-free. A few of them are though. I saw someone post a pretty good list once.
Wizard specializations give them access to abilities that rival and exceed metamagic, but only within their specialization, and often only at higher levels. Evocation and divination stand out with useful, unique low level features.
Sorcerers and wizards are both specialists compared to bards and druids. However, wizards are both better specialists and better generalists than sorcerers. The sorcerer advantage is being able to decide to burn their resources faster or slower. They can nova to a degree that wizards can't.
It's actually a background a book recommends for some reason.
It takes an action to doff/don a shield, so it only works with the rapier, which I think is what was intended by making the change.
What do you think you're going to summon before level 5? Familiars gonna tank for you?

>DM uses childhood friend to cuckold him from his fictional girlfriend as revenge for all the bullying he did IRL

Yeah, I really quite like GURPS but it's a bit arcane.

But all my best Sci-Fi games have been GURPS even though I need to tinker with the rules a bit, but there are objectively better systems...

Fuck I really don't want to be a forever GM. Anyone know any good franchises in the UK for playing 5e? Here in the North East I can't find shit that isn't an hour drive away.

I wouldn't mind roll20 if it didn't feel like applying to jobs without any of the benefit.

I heard that 5e's balanced around 5 or 15 encounters between each long rest to cut down the caster superiority - is that true? What's the actual number of short/long rests and encounters for 5e to be 'balanced' between martials and casters?

It's 6 to 8 encounters a day, with two short rests

>Get new weapon from the DM
>2d6 slash + 2 radiant instead of 1d12 slash + 2 radiant
Why would I want to roll 2 damage dice when I strike only once in a single action? what the fuck is the point. if I hit the opponent twice with multi-strike I should roll 2 attack dice and 2 damage dice, not 4. I am not attack 4 times am I? WHAT THE FUCK!?!?!??!?!?!?

>being this retarded

First of all, Greatswords and Mauls do this in the PHB.

Second it's better then 1d12.

2d6 has a higher average, because you can never roll under 2. 1d12 on the other hand is better for critical hits.

Higher minimum damage
Higher average
Slightly weaker crits

2d6 is way better than 1d12

>1d12 on the other hand is better for critical hits.
Only if you're a half orc or barbarian really

>DM gives you +0.5 damage and better GWF compatibility
>OMG WTF I HAVE TO ROLL MORE DICE?!

So, what's your reason for not playing the best edition?

You need around about 3 EXTRA dice on crit for greataxe to actually be worth it.

...

It's what the players I want to recruit are playing.

I know there's another general, but I'm asking you guys.

I'm genuinely wondering why you choose to play an inferior, regressive product.

I think champion fighter or some sort of reliable chance of advantage might skew things more dramatically

That's just like your opinion, man.

But I'm playing a game in 4e and running a 5e game

Both systems are good in my opinion

I also just had a tpk in a (heavily modified) 2e campaign but I had to back out of a restart because I don't have enough time for 3 games anymore

Because we're inferior regressive people.

In all honesty I play 5e quite simply because it's good enough and easy to get a group for. I'll honestly play anything I can get a decent group for and 4e is pretty damn dead.

Roleplaying of players >>>>> Mechanics of system

Party so far is paladin, wizard, rogue, and cleric
Anything I should play?

>His PCs have Harems

Barbarian could be cool. Maybe a Bard as well.

Really you got literally all bases covered so go nuts.

What said. You drew the Joker card and aren't really under obligation to do anything in particular - so do what entertains you the most or that you want to play the most.

It wouldn't be dead if you weren't an admittedly inferior and regressive person playing a worse product due to what amounts to peer pressure.

You're an adult, aren't you? Play 4e instead.

>Look ma, I've got Deception!

Your race: Troll.

With champion you only need 2 extra crit dice.

But champion also gives you access to the GWF fighting style, which gives 2d6 a much nicer damage curve so...

Please don't troll people. I'm a 4e fan myself seriously, don't start edition wars.

>tells people not to give into peer pressure
>immediately begins to pressure peers

nice try

Actually, I already accounted for 10% crit.
What I haven't accounted for is that you might miss and thus the chance of critting is actually higher than you'd expect.

Essentially, for 50% hit chance and inclusive 10% crit chance:
1d12 base: 6.5 damage
2d6 base: 7 damage
1d12 crit contribution: 1.3 damage per die
2d6 crit contribution: 0.7 damage per die
With one extra die, you get 7.8 damage average on greataxe and 7.7 damage average on greatsword.
However, it's still not worth it as more reliable damage is much better.
With two extra dice, you get 9.1 damage on greataxe and 8.4 on the greatsword. At this point I'd say both are a valid option but especially on a barbarian using reckless attack remember that advantage isn't something you'll always have and advantage is actually maybe 9.8% instead of 10% crit chance and your hit chance may well actually be higher than 50%.
At three dice, I would definitely take greataxe unless you never go against any really strong enemies. Also it's more fun.

It depends on how often you use GWM for -5 to hit, your hit chance, enemy AC, whether you have champion's extended crit range, how often you get advantage...
But generally 1 extra dice = use greatsword, 2 extra dice = consider it depending on your character and playstyle 3 extra dice = use greataxe

Oh also as said if you have GWF I'd honestly even question if you want it if you have three extra dice, but if you're a champion then considering you probably have GWM and may find sources of advantage it's probably worth it considering your crit chance may at times approach even about 19.6%

I would lean towards something with a d10 hitdie, but yeah really do whatever and you'll be fine. Probably not a Sorcerer I guess.

I never said I believe 4e to be a better product, I don't believe it is. honestly all D&D is kinda meh for mechanics and if I was picky I'd be looking exclusivly for a Shadowrun game because I believe it to be good for mechanics.

My issues with 4e come from the fact it requires many books and pdfs filled with classes and races that are just there to fill space. You don't need to have the Striker, Controller, Leader, Defender for every power type.

invoker, Shaman and that dumb Not!Ranger from the 3rd PHB were the worse offenders but there was a lot.

I will admit it had it's high points. Making Sorcerers and Wizards wildly different was one of them, but I prefer 5e for the ease of homebrewing content and the fact I can remember all the feats and classes off the top of my head. Saves scouring .pdfs when I can remember the book.

Need ideas for a dwarf centric / dwarf only game. What would you guys do? What would the story line follow to make it nice and dwarfy? I've not got many ideas, unfortunately.

Different user. I have various questions about encounters.

1. If the game is balanced around these amounts, how do I handle wandering monsters during travel times? What's the purpose of having one group of gobbos on the long road between two pioneer towns, besides flavor and free lot XP? I can't squeeze six different encounters in there, can I. It's just travel.

2. Encounters can have various levels of difficulty. How do I balance them? Is it 2-3 Easy encounters, 2-3 Medium, 1 Hard, 1 Deadly?

3. I have 3 players. Most encounters in adventures are written for groups of 5. Do I just cut the amount of monsters in half and then round up?

Aside from Dwarf Fortress I'm not sure what other sorts of material there really is to draw inspiration from for that sort of game

There are necromancers amassing forbidden knowledge in towers.

Elves keep demanding the dwarf colony chops down less tries and is getting restless as we ignore them, and now we need to cull the elves, too.

Cavern exploration with extra magma.

A draft squad of former economic workers now fighting against a variety of new threats to a recent dwarf colony including goblin attacks, more angry elves, various underground threats and a big build up with adamantine gear to the final fight against HFS.

Gettin' yer clan's gold hoard back from that damn greedy dragon. But the map through the mountain has been lost, so you have to go to the...ugh...ELVES for help, since their diviners will know where the map is. But the elves won't help you until you clear out the forest of invading orcs, and maybe the diviner will request an artifact from some abandoned ruins for the divination ritual.