/5eg/ - Fifth Edition General

That sounds pretty cool. Care to tell us more, about other magic items perhaps?

Coming up I have a mini-dungeon that acts as a sort of trial grounds to protect an old artifact for all those but the worthy.

I require art and ideas. This temple has to be hidden underground in a relatively populated area, so I'm thinking more either magical and weird or compact, though that's not necessary. At the end will be a church that does not belong underground.

Think the Giant's Claw from Chrono trigger, kinda.

How do I make the best Dungeon Meshi concept character? I want the idea, or flavour of the character, but not a straight up recreation.

So for the RP I would need a custom background that gives proficiency with cooking utensils, gourmand feat, a level of ranger for natural explorer/ favoured terrain underdark (dungeons), a level of rogue for expertise for survival and arcana for ability checks related to harvesting slain monsters.

Classwise, should I continue martial (ranger, rogue, fighter) or go bard for the continued support theme? I guess a druid with a survival of the fittest motif works as well for a spellcaster.

Does anyone have that massive Roll20 token pack that was circulating for a while? Looking for a friend.

I think I'm going to write a guide on how to play Sorcerer/Paladin. The amount of people these days that have no idea what they're doing grates on every single one of my nerves.

>I think I'm going to write a guide on how to play Sorcerer/Paladin

That's easy: don't.

Really anything could work if you've got cooking covered. I'd probably go balls deep in the revised ranger deep stalker conclave for the dungeon delver theme.

Well one of our clerics had a super classic, "on a quest for a family sword", thing going on. Very simple but created a very powerful arc.

Very abridged version, but essentially, a BBEG was doing bad deeds and framing the cleric's family for it, sullying their name. Trying to find an portal to the plane the BBEG fled to, we encountered a Death Knight who had his family's sword. We would get our shit smashed in by him, so our cleric had to sit patiently while this Death Knight, so close to getting the sword back, yet so far.

Long story short, Death Knight wants to die finally, but needs BBEG dead to do it, so we kill BBEG, and DK thanks us by bestowing the sword.

The sword itself was pretty cool. Greatsword, family crest, beautiful metal, and acted as a spellcasting focus. It gave +1 to melee attacks as well as spell attacks sent through the sword. It's really meaningful to him, and that's one of the only other items of note.

I don't like this. I always prefer it when everyday weaponry/equipment is exclusively mundane, which magic items being rare or legendary artifacts, or custom-build items made and enchanted by the combined craft of elite smiths and enchanters.

If you can buy it from a shop, it shouldn't be magic in my opinion, otherwise why aren't the more well-off landowners buying Plough of Furrowing +2 for their serfs?

Just my personal preference though, I've played plenty of games where you trip over magic items, I just feel it cheapens it.

The grey hawk initiative thing seems kind of annoying. It makes sense for an arrow attack to be faster than a guy running in for a melee attack, but wouldn't it cause combat to slow down to a crawl?
What if I made a character with a high initiative? How does that affect the total I rolled? Would it effect each dice roll?

I'm going to re-read it since I'm sure I missed some stuff while skimming it.

I'd read that since I like the combination. I'd appreciate knowing how I could do better.
...alright, why not?

In a well-off country that has landowners of that caliber they would be commissioning the local arcane arts for the capitalism anyways

step it up senpai

>Very personal and meaningful items

I find these often mean the least.

Firstly, your only say in what abilities you get are 'hey DM can I have something like this' rather than through levelling where you get to pick what class you have a level in and what options you take. Getting magic items already feels impersonal in that it's the DM deciding to give you a buff of their choice.
Secondly, when everybody has something like that, it feels hardly unique at all - it feels almost bullshit that everybody conveniently has some anime evolving item with them and kinda devalues it.
Thirdly that bond with the item almost always feels very artificial. 'It's a powerful item I was given and therefore I like it'. Because everybody needs one, DMs often kinda make the finding of the item compulsory like on a railroad. A true, meaningful and personal item has a true story that was forged not by the DM necessarily, but the way was forged by the DM and you took the path and made the story from that. For example, the item is actually a part of a puzzle ripped out from its location and repurposed for interesting effect. It's not some mandatory loot the DM felt inclined to give you, and the magic item's function is how you decided it could be used (Hey, I can repurpose this alchemy jug as an automatic firing mayonnaise artillery device for while I'm fighting), not how the mechanics were drafted.

tl;dr fuck 'everybody gets evolving magic item' deals. I want a story, not a circlejerk.

You're going to want the Gourmand feat, senpai. It's tailor made for this shit.

>...alright, why not?

>my character is a super special holy warrior chosen by the gods AND has dragon's blood

But Tempest Cleric makes a great frontline fighter. Thunderwave enemies back to keep them away from your ranged allies, and if anyone does manage to hit through your AC of chainmail+shield, you get to retaliate with Divine Weather or whatever it's called.

There's no such thing as "front line" in D&D

Don't bother, it is shit and it goes against philosophy of 5e.

I mean, unless you really like the "realism" it brings to the table. For lot of us here, it feels more like a chore, than fun.

Could you elaborate? It often seems there IS one.

Reddit is down the hall to the left.

This. There is no 'front line', only 'suicide squad'.

There is no reason to be at the front other than 'I like taking more damage' and 'I don't want to get caught in AoEs so I'm staying seperate from the main party' and 'I have sentinel so I have a chance of stopping one enemy a round from getting to my allies'.

Sometimes, parties are better without 'front line fighters' because you can kite the enemies whereas before the enemies would gang up and down the melee fighter and they'd waste all your heals.

However, paladins, a rather strong class are mostly melee orientated (Though they can work at range).

Playing a Deep Stalker Conclave Ranger for the first time, anyone got any tips on builds?

See that's what I thought, but before my Mystic died, I was the one taking the brunt of everything. He just stayed back casting Shatter/Call Lightning.

Thanks for the story

>Could you elaborate? It often seems there IS one
Because enemies can just run past any semblance of "frontline" that you put together, with the entire group of enemies only suffering 1 AoO per character they pass.

If you actually play games on roll20, I feel sorry for you. Your players have no accountability whatsoever and can dump your game with zero social consequences. Instead of getting your ass off the computer for once, you instead sit on it, listening to some faggot with shit mic quality take forever to take his turn, or go AFK, or listen to the GM droning on about some pointless lore, and you don't want to quit because that would be rude. Not to mention shitty maps, retarded GUI, and having to sit staring at a screen for hours on end. A good bit of what makes RPGs fun, is completely destroyed by Roll20. I guess msot of the people on here are too much of social rejects to play in a real game, though. Or they made shitty life choices and are now stuck in a "career" where they have to work weird hours, or they have kids so only have time to play in between "watching the little guy" while the wife is out clubbing with Tyrone and Jamal. I had a friend like that once. I ended up deleting myself from his roll20 campaign because you could constantly hear his children in the background. Little fucks. One of them has some rare medical condition though, so he likely won't be around much longer.

Depends how prohibitively expensive/time consuming it is. If mages/wizards are limited in number and are more interested in esoteric arts, an adventurer who can barter with arcane artifacts for a single enchanted weapon will have more success petitioning the mage's guild than a capitalist who wants the entire guild to abandon it's studies for a few years to produce 6,000 arcane ploughshares in exchange for some gold coins.

Likewise, it depends on how powerful a magic item even a monetarily motivated mage's guild could produce, +2 to a stat might mean the difference between life and death to an adventurer, who'll pay an arm and a leg for it, but would be irrelevent to someone who needs them produced en masse for their work force. Like how militaries never equip their troops with the best stuff, it's always the lowest bidder who gets the contract.

tips for playing a thief?

...

sneak attack sneak attack sneak attack

hahahaha what the actual fuck
is this copypasta

Sneak around and steal stuff. Steal from your party members regularly, especially important items they could potentially need during encounters.

People love that, it's great roleplaying.

Work with your DM to make sure you have items to use with a bonus action. There are some that may make sense such as potions, caltrops or ball bearings but you might have to check with your DM in case they try to bullshit you out of it and you might want a prospect of getting better versions or alternative items later.

Whatever you do, never steal from the party, but that should go without saying.

How do you handle roleplaying someone with very high INT when you yourself are not very good at coming off as particularly smart?

Be imaginative. Yours is the most interesting of archetypes, so your abillities are only limited by your audacity and what DM lets you get away with.
Buy caltrops. Get that feat that allows you to heal as an action with healer kit. Buy manacles.
Absolutely watch Battle Tendency

How do I get better at running combat in 5e?
Is it just a matter of being more descriptive or is there some kind of special method people use?
I've been getting asked a lot to describe the setting better despite there having been maps for most of the encounters I've run so far.

don't speak much

But it's hilarious.

Speak only in quotes you've found on WikiQuote,

if you like the character being put in a sack and swung against a tree

use big words that don't fit and you may or may not understand
Parrot ideas and say they're your own
Take credit for other's plans and plain chance
say Just as Planned a lot

If your wisdom is shit recall all sorts of crazy obscure and irrelevant facts.

get a thesaurus and start using big words when you talk

don't talk very much

try to emulate Sherlock Holmes

I see where you're coming from, however their power can come from an oath just as much as a god.

If you wanted to you could have an oath dedicated to how great you are. Your magic ability is tied directly to your over inflated ego. So while you're powerful in combat, your pompous attitude creates just as many problems.

Isn't that just a Bard?

Lol no

My combat sessions felt incredibly long and tedious before I read this article:
theangrygm.com/manage-combat-like-a-dolphin/

It really helps. If TL;DR, you start by telling each player a super short sentence about what just happened
>"Dublin, you just saw this lumbering beast of an orc take a few swings at you ally, what are you going to do?"

Then, as long as they're not new to the game, don't let them take a whole minute to think out their turn, they have time to plan on other people's turns. Instead, you give them maybe 5 seconds to start explaining what they're doing. This creates urgency just like a real fight should.

Finally, you give a quick narration of what their character does.
>"So, Dublin lumbers forward, angry at these orcs for attacking your friend, and connects a clean slice across their back, the orc shrieks in pain as your short swords tear his flesh to ribbons"

As for explaining your setting, you can just give a few sentences about the room, it's temperature, smell, who's in it, and possible obstacles like crates or pillars.

Thanks, I'll check it out.
Any tips on what to do if they end up taking too long?

If they kill me they never find out where/who their precious magic items have been stashed/sold to!

What are anons hoping we'll get for the August Unearthed Arcana issue?

Merals' resignation letter.

I want a revised Artificer that makes it a half caster and moves the mechanical servant to its own subclass

what are some of the best encounters you've come up with?

This

Depends on how high magic the setting is, I suppose. I'll claim that you're limiting your thinking to the system and not the world. Imbuing items with multiple properties, like you must do if you're going to if you're to enchant a weapon for the typical combat purposes of accuracy and damage, is naturally more difficult than relatively simpler charms utilizing already established spellwork. And that's just the arcanery, you wouldn't want to magic up no flimsy shamshir or other ass-scratching club, it has to be quality work.

Something that makes the oxen go faster for some time per day would already be a significant increase in agricultural competition, mind you. What's there to stop them from incentivizing rangers and druids from helping their to-be agrocomplexes, anyways?

Personally, I want either first draft epic level PC crunch, some more converted 4e spells, or some new races - I'd kill for an official first draft for 5e devas, shardminds, thri-kreen, aranea or lupins.

Stay mad, cucks

Well you should be up front that you're trying to make combat better, and that they'll need to think on other player's turns. If they take too long I'll usually tell them they have 10 seconds to give me an answer or they'll automatically take the dodge action. The players will get the hang of it super quick, and most people I've used this system with like it more. It's not for everyone though, but just be sure to try it with an open mind, and your players should too.

yeah but it's not like you were gonna return them if they let you live either, and swinging you against a tree is satisfying.

UA: Fishing

This guy has written a better class guide than you ever will.
giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?502673-Unlimited-Blade-Works-The-Guide-to-the-Ultimate-Paladin-Sorcerer-Multiclass

Revisions of previously-released UA archetypes that aren't broken and don't violate 5e's design principles.

I know about the common complaints regarding Aarokecera, but let's say I was doing a homebrew race and I wanted it to have wings (Not for long-distance flight or anything). How would you balance that?
>Give them fly speed of 30, on the caveat that if they end their turn in the air they crash to the ground and take some damage
That, or
>You can only fly for a number of rounds equal to (Dex Mod) or (Dex Mod + 1). In addition, the wings can be used to glide from high places but only if you're under half of your encumbrance.

That's never going to happen, don't you understand that UA's content is just scrapes off Merals' table? and previously explained in this thread he doesn't play according to 5e's design principles.

How would you stat out a cursed Artifact Weapon like Kratos's chain swords? 1d8+1d8 Necrotic Light (and includes TWF style if attuned) with 15 ft reach, and can be used as grappling hooks?

So, random question because there's yet nother fantasy vs guns thread up: do anons think that 5e could mechanically handle "gunslinging subclasses"?

Like, PF has archetypes like the Holy Gun Paladin, the Trench Warfare Fighter, the Spellslinger Wizard, etc.

So, do you think 5e could pull off a rifle-master Ranger subclass, or a gunmage Wizard subclass, or a shotgun-toting fighter subclass, or a Blood Opera-style gun fuist Monk subclass, or whatever?

They've rereleased archetypes in the past, and usually there was some improvement. I'd like to see more of that leading up to XGE to convince me that the process works and the book is worth getting.

>Aarokecera
It's spelled Aarakocra, user

A subclass should not focus on a particular weapon. It should define the character in more ways than "he or she uses a gun."
So you'd need to tell a more compelling story.
>Holy Gun Paladin, Trench Warfare Fighter
Not different enough from the base set of abilities to require existing.
>Spellslinger Wizard
Could be interesting, but should not focus solely on guns. It should allow for any ranged weapon (or any weapon, even) to be used.

>That's never going to happen
Barbarian's Path of the Ancestral Guardian, Bard's College of Swords, Fighter's Arcane Archer and Cavalier, Monk's Way of the Kensai, Sorcerer's Favored Soul, Druid's Circle of the Shepherd, Paladin's Oath of Conquest, Warlock's Celestial patron

why don't you give them slow fall instead. just say they have like, wings, but their race doesn't have the muscle to use them for actual flight, so it just gives them a gliding slow fall. you don't need to have to fly at all.

That's cool and all, but do you have a suggestion? I assumed I misspelled it because it's a weird name.

>That's never going to happen
Barbarian's Path of the Ancestral Guardian, Bard's College of Swords, Fighter's Arcane Archer and Cavalier, Monk's Way of the Kensai, Sorcerer's Favored Soul, Druid's Circle of the Shepherd, Paladin's Oath of Conquest, Warlock's Celestial patron

That's workable, and better than trying to reinvent the wheel. Thanks.

>theangrygm

Going to second the other user and say make it a slow fall effect. Hell, if you want to make it over complicated, can just make it "Glide: When falling, you can spend an action to fly an equal distance to the height you are falling from (only up to your movement speed per round)." or somesuch, but made so it doesn't sound so wonky (I'm tired and I've got a headache).

But at least that way it means your character can conceivably make use of great heights to glide, but you cannot take *off* of the ground, and are going to be constantly dropping in altitude (and using your action to do so really prohibits most cheese).

The problem is that they already used the PF gunslinger grit mechanic for the sorcerer.

Another alternative is to use a modified Battle master's combat superiority system.

People like to pretend 5e couldn't handle a gunslinger class because of its design philosophy, but that's bullshit pushed by people who worship muh mediaeval stasis.

It's not that 5e can't handle it, it's the fact that the idea of a class based entirely around using guns is fucking stupid.

Gunslingers are just Paladins of Murlynd.

aesthetically, you don't have to change much for spellcasters if you just want the theme. I managed to convince my DM to let my warlock have a pistol as his arcane focus, so he casts his spells through it and shoots them at people, giving him +1 to hit with it because it's got sights.

>every post longer than 5 words is copypasta

nah, it's more than that. copypasta has a certain feel to it. usually you can tell, in the post, that the original poster of it was going for some kind of sassy comeback that got co-opted into a meme. it's a specific kind of autism that makes copypasta into reality.

I rigged up a whole Engineer class using Warlock as a base. Got a couple of capacitor batteries that you can recharge during a short rest, all spells require foci but none require verbal. Int instead of Cha, some different pact options. My setting's about 1910-level, magitech wise. It's working well.

that sounds good. you got a concept for spellcasting turrets? because if i'm gonna play an eldritch engineer i'm gonna wanna go for the meme.

What spells should a third level sorcerer have? I'm gonna play one and I have no idea what spells I should take

Haste, Fly and Hypnotic Pattern in particular stand out to me

It does kinda feel like warlock would be suitable for engineer if it were refluffed.

>Decent main attack with possible add-on utility
>Invocations as 'gadgets' that can be swapped out after levels
>Spells twice a short rest as their general resource abilities.

So with a bit of rework..

Third level sorcerer, not third level spells user

depends what kinda character you're going for but haste and fireball are safe bets.

>haste and fireball
See