/5eg/ - Fifth Edition General

>Unearthed Arcana: Greyhawk Initiative:
media.wizards.com/2017/dnd/downloads/UAGreyhawkInitiative.pdf

>5etools:
astranauta.github.io/5etools.html

>/5eg/ Alternate Trove:
dnd.rem.uz/5e D&D Books/

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>No OP discussion
Tell me about the various knightly orders in your setting

Playing a necromancer, should I organize my skeletons for ease of use? I'm currently thinking about sending them around in groups of four.
Also, should the groups all have the same equipment, or should there be a distribution within each group, or should like, one group be archers and the other melee chumps?

> should I organize my skeletons for ease of use?
Literally anything that can lessen the headache of summoning should be done

Is that ProJared?

guess ill post it again
trying to come up with a vermin lord esq circle for druid
im thinking of making it a support/debuff circle with a die system similar to circle of twilight
>2nd lv
-you get d4's equal to your druid level
you can roll them to cover yourself in bugs (temp hp)
-or use them on enemies
(disadvantage on attack rolls and concentration checks for number of turns equal to number rolled)
-you also get the poison spray cantrip and can talk to vermin as if you had speak with animals
>6th level
-you can now turn your hand into a spider and detach it for 1 hour per short or long rest, it is the same as a spider familiar
you can hear and see everything the spider does, you can add your proficiency to it's stealth checks, it must be within 5' of you to re-attach as a free action by the hours end or it dies
if it is destroyed your hand painfully regrows and you suffer 4d6 psychic damage and have disadvantage on dexterity skills until your next short or long rest
>10th level
-you can grow spider legs or fly wings to get either fly or climbing speed equal to your movement speed for a number of rounds equal to your level
-you can now move through swarms as if normal terrain and all vermin must roll a will save with dc equal to 10+druid level or are neutral to you, those that fail by >5 are friendly those who fail by >10 are charmed
-you can now turn into swarms of vermin while wildshaped
>14th level
-the druid can create a hiveming with any summoned vermin, as long as you are within 30' of one or more vermin you add double your proficiency to intelligence, wisdom, and charisma saving throws and have tremorsense

definitely want to hear what other anons think

>He started building literally himself until I stopped him
>Now he's a Chaotic Neutral Dragonborn with zero backstory

Can somebody go ahead and shoot me?How do I coax the player into making an actual character out of this scaly fuck?

And don't even get me started on Sword Guy.

Almost nobody responds to OP questions anyways

Sword Guy?

If he's new, let him develop his character over time. Also, I've played with great players who start out with blank-slate characters because they want to get a feel for the world and party and feel of the campaign before committing.

There's nothing wrong playing "myself in a fantasy world" in D&D. Its actually great fun to go "Huh, I wonder what I would do in this scenario!"

How much work do you actually put into your settings? Do you try to craft brief but interesting tidbits about areas the various races will be from? Do you curate the race / class options? Or do you just say 'to hell with it', and create the thinnest veneer since you know your players won't care, and will bitch if any option, even one they'd otherwise never chose, is left out?

I'm struggling with option 3 now.

That's one of the other players. His character's name is literally Sword Guy. Short for Swordicus Guyver. His whole thing is he likes swords, and he demanded that he be given extra proficiency when using swords. I compromised for +3 to rolls regarding swords when out of combat (knowing stuff about swords, doing sword tricks, etc). He briefly suggested being a pedophile before I reminded him that he was in a party with a paladin and a monk.

Fair enough. I just want to facilitate that creation as much as possible, and I'm not sure how to go about that as I've never played with someone so new. At least not since I first played.

Unless he actually makes it himself I doubt he'll give a shit about the character. On the other hand it sounds like he'll only build shit. Personally I would just let him do the "literally himself" one and just make him change the name or just kick him

can you throw a versatile thrown weapon with two hands?

The artist? Or the character
Artist is hong soonsang from south korea, I think the character is meant to be the sheriff of nottingham, he's one of his robin hood characters.

I draw up a basic continent, establish which areas have which terrain features (desert, forests, etc) add some key locations and say who lives where.

I can slowly add in more details during the campaign as people explore the locations, but I don't want to spend 10 hours making a location full of detail only for people to never go there At least mid campaign anyways,
I have fun with worldbuilding so I do it anyways

No, the versatile damage die is only used for melee attacks.

Does Eldritch Knight actually need a buff, or are their weaknesses exaggerated? I'm considering a house rule where you can pick spells from conjuration, necromancy, and transmutation in addition to abjuration and evocation. This would give them access to spells like False Life, Longstrider, Enlarge, Magic Weapon, Misty Step, Flame Arrows, Fly, Haste, Slow, etc., which I think would be really cool (and thematically appropriate) in an EK's kit.

I also have a house rule to buff 4 Elements Monk - all the elemental disciplines, except Fist of Unbroken Air, Flames of the Phoenix, and Water Whip, cost one less ki point (minimum of 1). This is on top of making Stunning Strike cost 2 ki for all monks.

Opinions?

First player death of my campaign today

We've been at it for more than a year too, the party is in the middle of disrupting the BBEG's plans in tricking the member states of a country into civil war, hardly anyone believes them so they set to find more definitive proof than just their word.

Anyways this led them to a mad wizard the bbeg was using for help in destabilizing the region from afar, after they killed him they had, notes, documents, mapped plans etc. everything needed to get a serious ceasefire going

So they go to get ready to leave the place, and then the trap is sprung, essentially a small army worth of goblins/orcs/bug bears and a more elite group of the human majick flintlock guys from the more predatory country is unleashed upon them, a strike force specifically designed to eliminate them from the board.

They're all but cornered in the wizards tower, the only advantage they have is they know the terrain better and they can leave out the back before the horde is upon them.

So they flee as fast as they can out the back (they lost their horses because they left them outside, and by this point they've been butchered) with the small army right on their heels

part 1/?

So a celestial can under some circumstances become evil. What happens to fiends that go good?

does crossbow expert allow you to use nets within 5 ft without disadvantage?

I don't think freeing up eldritch knight spells would be that huge of a game changer, but those spells are basically just the ones they would pick on their free choices anyway. If they seem really lacking in your games I'd say do it, but I don't really see the need myself. I think nerfing stunning strike is unjustified though. The monk needs some sort of go-to ability to make it not just be a fighter that can't use heavy weapons. I'm particularly against it if you're only doing it to make the 4 Elements monk look better

So there are quite a bit of races.

>Humans
As usual

>Elves
No facial hair. Lithe humanoids, pointed ears.
>Wood Elf
>High Elf
>Drow
Dusky Grey, to Charcoal-Black Skin
>Sun Elf
Blonde?
>Moon Elf
Blueish skin

>Dwarves
"Stout" humanoids, still medium-size

>Halflings and Gnomes
Both around the same height and weight. How do you distinguish between them?

>The monk needs some sort of go-to ability to make it not just be a fighter that can't use heavy weapons
Like Flurry of Blows?
And I'm not doing it just to make Wot4E better, I'm doing it because I think stuns are far too strong of a condition to only cost 1 ki point.

I don't see why not.

>Both around the same height and weight. How do you distinguish between them?
Halflings have a little human and a little dwarf in them, if not a straight mix between the two
Gnomes are like elves distantly related to fey, maybe a bit more so than the common elf

Well, you can buff them if you want, but realistically EKs have enough free slots already to pick up all the spells most useful to them regardless of school limitations.

They're fine. Battlemaster starts as the best Fighter at level 3 but quickly falls off. Once you get to level 7 EK is just plain better.

part 2/?

So they're running through the forest, hoping to lose them in the thicker deadlier marshier part of it far ahead of them. While this is all going on they're occasionally doing a small combat or two as groups catch up with them.

They're now pretty desperate, wizards low on powers, everyone is low on other supplies.

So the ranger tells me in secret (via text) a plan he's hatched on the move. As the party is running he puts more and more distance between them, trying to make a much more obvious trail than his friends. He kept rolling well, and after a couple min of this he finally reveals it to the rest of the party, with more than 100 ft between them, and the hordes right on their heels, he stops suddenly.

The wizard was the only one perceptive enough to notice so the whole group stops for a moment.

Conversation went like this
>What in the gods names do you think you're doing?
>The only chance we have left.
>That is NOT an option, we've gotten this far, and out of much worse! You don't get to give up now!
>This isn't giving up. This is all we have left, otherwise they win.
>*The stomping of iron shod boots is louder than ever*
>But we need you, we always needed you.
>I know, but now my time with you comes to an end. Let the trails guide you home my friends, for my path ends here. Ranngar! Do as we planned!
>The guy playing the Barbarian nods, and throws a couple jury rigged moltovs, lighting the forest between them afire
>Ranger gives a salute, then turns and starts shooting them as they come out into the clearing

to be continued again...

Wait, what?

Battle Master, the killiest fighter, is worse than EK?

I'm coming up with a knightly order for my paladin.

I'm thinking of making them an order of monster hunters that specifically hunt monsters that try to subvert human civilizations (mind flayers, vampires, aboleths, etc.) They're from a sort of dystopian victorian england.

What do you anons use (those who use grids) when you don't have a miniature for a specific monster? I use minis to represent multiple monsters (kobolds can be themselves,imps, or any dragonspawn) and sometimes dice but dice only fit in the 1" grid, what if I wanted to represent a giant or dragon?

I used mini candy bars once to represent an Ogre

So basically order of the fuck enchantment magic?

Ah that's nice but I try not to mix food with my maps and tiles.

Add to it week by week instead of spending an absurd amount of time before the campaign starts. Every week spend like 30 minutes thinking of interesting lore and history for the places your PC's might end up in for your next session. Have some big picture stuff in the background and hammer out the details when they get there.

Whatever you do, don't make your setting so complicated you can't easily explain it in like 1 minute at session zero. Please do not write a novel and then expect your players to remember all of it. Less is more.

>DM wants to nerf my Revised Ranger Natural Explorer feat

Well they were still wrapped, of course

What are they nerfing about it?

part 3/3

I gave him encounters in waves, and he surprised me with his toughness, he didn't try running further, just making a stand. and he did really well, I didn't keep an exact count but but after quite a while he had racked up 25+ kills, but he was finally on his last leg, literally out of arrows and more kept coming.

Then a deep horn sounded, and the hordes marched rather than their combat jog, they formed at the edge of the clearing, then the matchlock human guys showed up.

They formed a traditional firing position, and with 40 of them their was no doubt as to them missing. Their Captain spoke up

>You have preformed admirably, rebel. But the line ends here. Tell us what path your little friends are taking. If you do, I have good news. My lord has given me explicit word, you will not be harmed, in fact he has grown impressed with your skill.
>He says you would have a place in the marksman squadrons, a prestigious position I will tell you.
>Your lord eh? Does he listen even now? I hear he's good at that.
>The captain nods
>Well if you're listening m'lord, I think you're an overgrown fugging salamander, and the free folks of this world are perfectly fine off without a lizard as a king. (BBEG's a dragon if you couldn't tell lel)
>A pity. Well your pitiful attempt at slowing us is lost anyway. Even now our reavers comb the wood beyond the flame, and you get to die knowing you failed.
>I die knowing I made a difference for once *draws his hand bow he had hidden away*

I let him have one surprise shot, he didn't kill that captain, but he did get to die knowing he wounded his pretty face badly. In the end the firing squad, well, fired. He got blasted by 40 muskets at close range, the damage was in the hundreds lel.

This could've all been avoided if your Wizard had Fly or Invisibility or Teleportation Circle.

This death is on him.

Yeah I guess. Order of the thank fuck for cha to saves

I'm trying to come up with some silly name like knights of malta, but i think that might be too over the top. I certainly wouldnt be able to say something like 'Sovereign Military Hospitaller Order of Saint John of Jerusalem of Rhodes and of Malta' with a straight face.

Yes, and then you can attack with a hand crossbow as a bonus action.

Just tear a piece of paper that equates to that number of squares if noting else.

The closest I've come to using a grid is a whiteboard where we just write initials and erase when we move though, but I don't see why that wouldn't work

youtube.com/watch?v=bq54jb_5WCI

Not a bad way to go honestly.

I've yet to come up with a fantasy name that doesn't make me grimace.

Shoulda fluffed that the captain died man, rule of cool.

Unless the PCs knew the captain and it would've fucked your boss fight or something, but man that would've been a way to go

Sounds like a (You) problem

why are hyenas so shit compared to wolves
I just want a hyena companion

Wot4E monk, would they be fixed if:
>All Ki Spending discipline reduced by 1, minimum of 1
>Probably increase the amount of choices, there's not a whole lot of options in there if you want to specialise in one element.
Then Either:
>Allow them to trigger martial arts or flurry of blows after casting one of their disciplines
OR
>All of their discipline were now a bonus action, though this might require either the removal or an increase in cost of the Hold Person

Now instead of being a gimped warlock, you're a monk who can cast spells as well as being able to attack.

Thoughts?

I recommend buying a pack of 1" round bases, a pack of 2" round bases, and a pack of 3" round bases.

The 1 inch ones can be used for monsters where you don't have another mini to represent it. It's also useful for marking the environment (there's a fire burning in this square now). 2 inch bases are a good way to represent that a character is mounted. They're also good for "oh hey so this regular sized wolf is actually a winter wolf, so it's on this large base." The 3 inch bases are great for representing large monsters and also some spell effects. It's worth picking up a Reaper Bones dragon or hydra or something just to give a sense of scale, IMO.

I also like using the bases for abstract representations of combat. For example, my party recently fought a Roc while aboard an airship. I used a large base to represent the airship (with an eraser to denote the direction it was facing) and a small base for the Roc. Then I said that each inch of movement was 50 feet and went from there.

I bought 3 plastic chess sets from a 2 dollar store, it actually works amazingly. We have minis for the players, white chess pieces for allies, and varying sizes of black chess pieces for enemies. For larger enemies I have in the past printed an image of the enemy, folded it and stood it upright.

>have a player with revised ranger in my group
>he gets to know about every single giant and human in a multiple mile radius
>he can do this as often as he wants
It seems insanely powerful for such a low level ability. It also only takes a minute to use, so in RP it's basically free.

Just refluff a wolf

The PCs had dealt with him multiple times up to that point, The Rogue much later in the campaign dueled him atop a burning cathedral copycatting that spainish guy from princess bride

He kept saying "MY NAME IS MORDICAI VILANIRI, YOU KILLED MY FRIEND, PREPARE TO DIE!" Eventually he did gut him, after a pretty close fight.

That's the third level ability Primeval Awareness. The person you responded to is talking about Natural Explorer, the first level ability.

why was this printed it doesn't even have an ATTACK

It's a fucking seahorse how would it attack something?

I would assume it's listed as a potential familiar in aquatic locations and they felt obligated to make the entry. It looks like it would be a really shitty choice though

yes that's the point it doesn't do ANYTHING maybe if it was a magical Rebreather Sea Horse that grants you water breathing for an hour if you defeat it maybe it would be worth it's ink

The point is that if it doesn't actually meaningfully interact with any stats in the game it shouldn't need a monster manual entry. I don't need to see salmon in the monster manual to know I can put them in my game

>why does this small, unassuming aquatic beast exist?

Arcane trickster has the same kind of restrictions. How would you housrule that?

Does anyone have the 4 Elements remake? I'm pretty sure that was a good example of more choices

Underwater familiar? Small, can slip in unnoticed.

Isn't that just 1st level unless I'm misunderstanding it

WHY IS IT PRINTED WHY IS IT PRINTED WHY IS IT PRINTED
WHAT POSSIBLE REASON COULD ANYONE HAVE FOR KNOWING A FUCKING SEA WHORES HAS 1D4-1 HP??????
AND ELEVEN (11) FUCKING ARMOR CLASS (AC)
WHY IS IT PRINTED

Whadda ya mean? They're Rogues who have the same amount of spell slots and rules as EK, only instead of abjuration/evocation they can only pick from illusion and enchantment. And a few free spells ofcourse.

I'd give them access to conjuration, divination, and transmutation.

I'd think that necromancy is more a AT's forte and divination an EK's. But that's just my 2 cents

Why?

I can't help but imagine someone screaming this into a fish tank

Really? I don't see any divination spells that an EK would usually want, except for maybe See Invisibility, whereas necromancy provides False Life, Blindness/Deafness, Bestow Curse, and Blight. As for a rogue, divination spells like Detect Magic, Identify, Locate Object, and Arcane Eye would be very useful.

"Gonard the Barbarian equips his Ring of Waterbreathing and fastens a Tethyrian dagger to his belt. In an instant this mountain of a man majestically leaps off the cliff, leaving his trusty axe behind, and our champion silently disappears in the surface of the dark, cavernous lake. A school of sea horses startled from this sudden incursion HOLD ON LET ME LOOK UP THE SEA HORSE STAT BLOCK OKAY OKAY IT'S UNALIGNED"

I'm rolling a Goblin Conclave of Beasts Ranger from the revised UA and had 2 questions.

1. Is Beast Bond worth taking over Hunters Mark? I'll be using a black bear.

2. Is it a good idea to multiclass into Druid if I want to up my spellcasting? If so, how should I go about that?

The real question is what are some other monsters in the book that can't even attack or do any harmful action towards you?

The irony is that in making a pointless stat block they have started a one man war against seahorses, thus creating a purpose for a seahorse stat block

Take both BB and HM.

No. You'll do fine as a Ranger. If you want to go full Beast-mode just start and stay as a druid.

What's the point of taking both if they're both concentration? Also, are both of them better than absorb elements? I think a defensive ability vs magic is going to be super helpful.

Fresh autism if anyone is interested in giving feedback. Trying to overhaul the weapon system for my next game to allow martials to branch out and take feats that aren't PAM/GWM/SS/CBE.

Because each has a time and a place to be used. BB is super situational, and if you're a BM Conclave you get a better version of it anyway once you hit 3rd level, which for Rangers is only 1 more after you get casting.

Is this meant to replace feats that interact with weapons? I can't tell if these are meant to be applied on top of them or replace them

And I fucked up the reach damage reduction. It's supposed to basically result in the current weapon system where 2H, heavy weapons are 2d6/1d12 while 2H, heavy, reach weapons are 1d10.

It's meant to replace all the weapon feats aside from Dual Wielder.

In that case I generally like it. I feel like there would inevitably be options everyone would pick and there could probably be a little more difference between standard and versatile weapons, but those problems seem kind of unavoidable (and I feel to push those problems on to weapons and away from feats is overall a good thing)

reposing question
how do I make a deep gnome wizard who hates Drows, Illithids, and Psionics in general?

>remove the dumb Two Weapon Fighting style, make it so Ranger, Monk, Rogue, Fighter, Barbarian, and Paladin get it for free
>replace the fighting style with the Dual Wielder feat, allow Barbarians to take it in addition to a few others
Does this break anything?

In terms of spell choices at early levels I'd say always having protection from evil ready would be a good call since that's the easiest and most basic protection against mind fuckery. Past that the next significant defense I'm aware of is Mind Blank which is obviously a ways off. Everything else is really a matter of role play

kenku sweatshops yes?

It might make two weapon fighting a bit too good at the lowest levels, but not to a degree it would really upset anything

Does a paladin or cleric really only have to wear a holy symbol around their neck to cast their magic?

Yup. They could probably even just get a tattoo for it.

Yes

They can also paint the symbol on a shield, I'd allow holy tattoos or just being cast from their weapon itself as well

So a character with a holy symbol on their shield would still need War Caster?

Do ASI levels include both the racial and class ability scores, or is it one or the other? E.g.: human gives +1 to all attributes, and the fighter class gives +1 to two abilities of my choice. At fourth level, for example, do I add up +1 to all attributes AS WELL as +1 to two of my choice, or is it one or the other?

You want war caster for the concentration advantage and (depending on build) reaction attacks with the SCAG melee cantrips.

Getting rid of the foci juggling is just a bonus, really, since it doesn't actually affect casters aside from edge cases.

What are you smoking? When you make your character at first level you have ASI decided by your race. Then as you level up you have a total of +2 ASI distributed as you see fit.

That's where it gets weird.

RAW you can cast spells without War Caster, as long as they have a Material Component you're using the Holy Symbol for. If they DON'T have a Material Component then you need a free hand.

Luckily you can drop your weapon, cast and then pick it back up.

These rules are dumb and most DM's won't make you track that because it's pointless.

I don't know if I understand what you're asking, but I'll try to answer it. Racial features are only added on character creation. ASI is 2 stat points or a feat that you get from certain levels of a class. The two don't really have anything to do with each other other than both adding ability scores

I'm not smoking anything, I'm just new to D&D and I'm trying to figure out if ASI is an universal level up mechanic every other level for both race and class or it just for the class. The fact that both races and classes have a mechanic with the naming is what led me to this confusion.

Thanks for the answer.

You should really just read the first chapter on character creation if nothing else.

So I'm trying to think of ways to make phoenix sorcere not suck as many dicks as it does, which is mostly tied to how mantle of flame is only usable once a day and outside of that you're just a below average sorcerer who can do some light self healing and not die once per day. Which of these do you think is the better option?
>mantle of flame uses is equal to charisma modifier
>mantle of flame uses is copied wholesale from the barbarian rage uses
>mantle of flame recharges on a short rest instead of long
I was also thinking about them being able to bypass fire immunity and treat it as resistance instead, tied to their level 18. Thoughts?