/5eg/ - Fifth Edition General

There are certain places that are pretty deadly. My party basically limped away and there would have been a few tpks if not for a semi competent cleric.

Anyone tried these initiative rules? Thoughts?

DMing for two parties RN and playing in a third.

Group 1:
>Dumb-as-fuck but very polite LG Goliath Storm Herald Barbarian
>Determined, skilled, and famous CN Human Sharpshooter Fighter
>Bibliokleptomaniac CE Tiefling Phoenix Sorcerer
>Amiable, wisecracking, bounty hunter of a TN Half-elf War Cleric

Group 2:
>Motherly veteran LG human Bear Totem Barbarian
>Deluded, hallucinating, and devout NE human Vengeance Paladin who thinks he's LG
>Paranoid, shy, thinks-he's-a-wizard NG human Wild Magic Sorcerer
>now-deceased wallflower TN goblin alchemist artificer
>chip-on-her-shoulder fleeing-from-past CN aasimar inquisitor rogue (I have concerns about this one)

Group I'm going to be playing in:
>Proud tribal warrior LN half-orc tempest cleric 2/storm sorcerer X
>crotchety old witch of a moon druid
>rogue with a yet-unknown race and subclass.

Stop shilling your shit, Mearls. I hope we get to see a real arcana tomorrow.

Not really. The Warlock died in Cragmaw Cave because he ventured off into the cave alone and ran into the Bugbear, which of course killed him mercilessly. The second of the original group of 4 left the game, so his character died for story reasons. The third of them died to a Flameskull's fireball because it rolled 31 damage and everyone failed their Dex save - it almost TPK'd, but the Druid survived with 3 HP from wild shape and managed to heal the Rogue and they barely managed to escape.

It can be. Bugbears are CR1 all by themselves and they show up in packs in Wave Echo Cave. Flameskulls' Fireball does 8d6 on a failed save. That could ohko an entire team if it rolls high and they miss the save.

kek , legit curious and trying to convince my DM to try this next week (maybe we will do some simulation type fights) so wanted to get some feedback

Can temp HP from multiple sources stack? For example, the Glamor Bard in my party has Mantle of Inspiration, and she's thinking of grabbing inspiring leader as well.

When a grave cleric heals someone at 0, they always get the maximum amount from the spell.
Does this mean it's actually worth running up to someone and casting cure wounds and higher level healing, or would you say you are still best just throwing out a healing word?

No, temp HP specifically says you can only choose one source.

Have you ever played or ran a campaign set on Earth? How did it go?

I'm planning on running one set during the 6th - 7th century full to the brim with European legends and fairy-tale wonder.

Thanks dawg

I'm running a game in a homebrew setting that is very Eternia / Sword & Planet style.

How would you introduce centaurs or have an adventure that heavily features them?

Bonus Question for new thread: We use side initiative, which has opened up some really cool tactical options for both me and the players. What's a tactic badass warmonger Centaurs would use, or do you have any cool monster/encounter ideas in general that could really benefit from this style of combat?

V. Human Wolf Totem Barb (Myself)
V. Human WoTFE Monk (Uses Sterling Vermins remix of it. Our That Guy many many many times over. Will save space and not detail.)
Human Valor Bard (Buffs party, throws occasional vicious mockery or hideous laughter. I don't think they've ever made a weapon attack.)

Rest of the party uses homebrew races from, I believe, Kobold Presses stuff.

Minotaur WoTFE Monk (Player works out of town all the time, so is super infrequent about being available. Character blinks in and out of reality as a result).

(Basically) Kenku Arcane Trickster. Has a pet mouse named "Snack".

Some sort of... Shadow-Fey-Elf, noble Moon Druid. Apparently descendant of some major house / noble family or something, but grew up in the woods.

Some sort of "Djinn-born" UA Hunter Ranger.

For most part I like the group (excluding the That Guy), but its WAY TOO FUCKING BIG. We started with four folk (Barbarian/Rogue/Druid/Minotaur Monk), somehow gained the Bard, then we pulled the That Guy so the DM would be able to reliable make it, and then randomly had the Ranger join. I wish I could describe the *characters*, but we have damned little ability to roleplay anything since the That Guy has joined, and its become a fever paced rollplay rail road mainly spent keeping the That Guy in check - so I mainly just have characterizations from the first few sessions.

Outside of that: People don't really understand their characters, or how the game works, at all. I tried to help people figure stuff out, but at this point I'm just sitting back and only interjecting when people specifically ask for stuff. DM probably has best understanding of rules in the group, but he is definitely wonky on some details.

I just wish the group was smaller, people knew how the game worked / how to play their characters, and we had a chance to roleplay.

>centaurs
name another quality race that has been destroyed by furfags and edgelords

If your campaign doesn't feature Cú Chulainn then you're doing your campaign a disservice.

thank you based reddit spacing 15 year old

I don't know what Eternia or Sword/Planet is, but you could easily have centaurs do hit and run attacks (They ride up to you and attack as they pass by or something), or have two ride up with a rope and clothesline someone, and then another following the group run them over. Or, hell, just have them attack with a net, and if they succeed then they can drag their victim off.

Seconding CuChulainn the guy was fucking great

Half-Elf Arcane Trickster soon to multiclass into Bard
Changeling Fiend Warlock
Human Paladin of Devotion
Dragonborn Champion
Dragonborn Sorcerer

That sucks, but I assure you these are not misunderstood noble savages, they're more the oh shit GTFO machines of war are incoming type.

Cu Chulainn was first century

You could try researching cavalry tactics.

You mean the race that was originally described as pretty decent (if chaotic) dudes who get rapey when drunk attracted furfags and edgelords?

Next you're going to say that race of bullmen who were described as needing to fuck human women to perpetuate their otherwise all male race attracted those groups too.

The earliest known mention of Cú Chulainn was from the 7th century though.

Just play a paladin.

I'm sure I don't know what you're talking about.

Elf Ranger Commando who acts as the party's de facto leader and face. Provides most of the tactical decisions for the party.

Dwarf Oath of the Guardian Paladin who serves as the party's moral and physical backbone. Has a close friendship with the Elf Ranger (Think Gimli and Legolas), but is protective of the entire party.

Human Eldritch Knight who is mostly a roguish type that drinks a lot. Acts as a secondary face for the party and brings laughter.

Orc Bear Barbarian who hits like a ton of bricks, but is slightly less intelligent than one. Is a bit of a wild card socially but is dependable in battle.

Loxodon Life Cleric who attracts interested gazes wherever the party travels. Is very apt at healing magic and keeps the party nice and ready for the troubles of travel.

We are all IRL friends and try to do our sessions in person so we get along pretty well.

>What's your party like, /5eg/?
I'm not entirely sure yet. Both adventures haven't started, but here's the rundown:

Group where I'm a player:
-Dragonborn Fighter, LG (me)
-Human Barbarian, CE
-Kenku Rogue, CN
-(insert race) Wizard, ???
Our first game will be next Sunday. Two of the people I have never played with before. I know the group will be dealing with some monster invasion---two of us are volunteers in this international army and the other two are prisoners forced into service. I'm expecting the barbarian and I to clash.
I'm not sure about the wizard since I don't see the guy often, and the DM didn't remember anything except he was a wizard. He changed character concepts a few times, though (was a bard, then a sorcerer, then settled on wizard). The player never played a caster before.

Group where I'm DMing (Dark Sun):
-Thri-Kreen Ranger
-Hafling Rogue
-???
-???
We haven't gotten to making characters yet since I'm still brewing up stuff to make everything setting appropriate. As a DM, I'm hoping that this group learns to cooperate to survive together, or betrays each other for personal survival.

The Ulster cycle takes place in the 1st century

So, is the trove dead?

It keeps timing out.

Can anyone recommend any published campaigns from older/other editions that have been refitted for 5e? I know there's some guy working on porting Rise of the Runelords but it's not done yet.

I'm keeping it for duels. A DM shouldn't need to roll that much for initiative.

>You mean the race that was originally described as pretty decent (if chaotic) dudes who get rapey when drunk attracted furfags and edgelords?
total asspull, centaurs have not been described this way in any classic setting

Yes, I'm aware. I'm simply giving a loophole to include one of Europe's best mythological figures into the campaign. Calm your autism.

Pretty sure everything in Tales from the Yawning Portal is rebuilt adventures. Curse of Strahd is the old Ravenloft campaign.

>>Lawful stupid but awesome Dwarven Paladin.Has actually learned that he cant win every fight on his own
>>Lawful Evil Tiefling FiendTomeLock Nobleman.Magnificent Bastard and party leader
>>Frying pan wielding Fighter lady in her first TTRPG. Shes doing her best
>>Greedy neutral evil Assassin badly converted from some 4E shit.Still a cool guy for a wererat
>>Any of a plethora of female characters played by gender confused millennial who sucks at building characters and roleplaying. Still surprisingly tolerable

Overall not bad

>/5eg/ kills literally every trove link, including ones that have previously been up for years

If you're talking about who I think you are, he might have stopped ROTRL for Skulls and Shackles.

But we need more modules regardless

I mean, it's a trove of pirated material that gets posted in the OP of every /5eg/ thread. I'm surprised it lasted as long as it did.

>What's your party like, /5eg/?
I'm the DM, setting is homebrewed 60% Forgotten Realms, 40% He-Man.

> Human Hunter from rich family who likes to cook.
> Elf Devotion Pally of Bahamut who's a walking paladin trope
> Dwarf Druid who does a buddy cop routine with the bard/rog
> Half-Drow Bard/Rog who's in a secret organization with the druid
> Warforged Artificer who's basically a Terminator
> Crabman Samurai who wields a giant anchor as a weapon

It's actually pretty fun, including one episode where we hosted a mock trial because the party couldn't decide on what to do with prisoners, and left it up to a village to vote.

Skeleton Artificer/Rogue
Lizardfolk Rogue
Human Mystic
Orc cleric
Human Thief/Librarian
High Elf Wizard

So for my homebrew world I've made like 7 continents or some shit, and I want the players to visit each one once, while spacing it out between levels so they get a balanced and equal amount of exposure to each continent, and the campaign starts at level 3. at what levels should I have them move from continent to continent to keep it balanced?

It's useless.. Mearls has a distinct tendency to take something that works, in this case Clockwork Initiative, and then change shit to make it "his" version like a dog pissing on something to claim it. Unfortunately, that just ends up with something that still isn't his and is now covered with piss.

That is a lot of Rogues.

I think Goodman Games licensed some more Dungeon Crawl classics.

>Crabman

What stats do you use?

it depends on the reason why they would want to move from continent to continent in the first place, if you don't force them to automatically move if they reached a level threshold, they may overstay and prefer to just sit comfortably on one continent that they reach.

>What's your party like, /5eg/?

Half Elf Bard
Elf Druid
Gnome Wizard
Halfling Rogue
Human Paladin

We are all from some spirit realm and have been send into the mortal plains to collect life force to send back to our home world, none of us know anything about the real world so It's kind of tedious acting "surprised" and "fascinated" at basic things.

Right now we are just wandering aimlessly in the goblin mountains invading caves and accidentally rescuing civilians from cultists.

>something that works, in this case Clockwork Initiative,

So, my group thought combat trudged along, got kinda boring, and took forever. We tried Side Initiative (from the DMG), and so far everyone's loving it, including the DM.

> It's faster. Instead of each turn taking 5 minutes, a group turn takes about 8
> It opens up more opportunities for combos, tactics, and maneuvers.
> DM can get more creative with not just the setup of an encounter, but monster tactics as well.

What I do is roll initiative for the monsters, and if half the players roll higher initiative, players go first; otherwise monster goes first. Reactions work the same. Lair actions happen at the top of the round. Legendary actions can be used to interrupt whenever I feel like (limit 3 / turn still).

> "But user, it's heavily advantaging the players / whoever goes first."

I haven't felt like that's been a problem yet. Going in I knew that was concern for my players, but I've planned out some more dynamic encounters, and we've yet to run into that as a problem.

I'm gonna share something with everyone that will fix initiative. Ready?

Seriously, hold on to your ass-cheeks.

DnD initiative. With an easy to manipulate initiative tracker. Re-roll before every round.

Boom. There you go. Initiative is fixed.

>What's your party like, /5eg/?
Changeling Bard
Air Genasi Cleric
High Elf Sorcerer
Dragonborn Rogue
Tiefling Rogue
Half Elf Druid
Goliath Witch Hunter
Wood Elf Fighter

So I fucked up while RPing an NPC and told my players that the NPC saw "a gold dragon emerge from a lake".

Players are going to go investigate it, but I don't feel like running a gold dragon or an adventure to go along with it. What are some good replacements or other monsters that the NPC could have drunkenly mistaken for it or could / would generate an illusion like that?

> generate an illusion like that?

An asshole gnome who likes fucking with people.

wyvern would be an obvious alternative

What are some fun but ultimately useless flavour bits from your characters back story?
My human Battlemaster got really drunk, stumbled into the woods and found himself in the feywilds where he had a one night stand with a Faun. When he emerged back into the material plane, he had been gone for a month even though he was only in the feywilds for a single night.

Is there any way you could discredit the NPC in game? Like say that he's the town drunk or something?

Does anybody have any experience using the madness rules from the DMG? I'm thinkink about using it in my upcoming Strahd campaign.

What's my party like, you ask? They won't fucking show up to the game.

Human Champion Fighter/barbarian
Elf Moon Druid
Half-elf Diviner Wizard/cleric
Elf Deep Stalker Ranger
Aasimar Devotion Paladin

They are really REALLY strong and hard to kill. But that's a good thing.

There is no dragon, but there are fields of magical drugs in the area that the NPC unwittingly inhaled. The players run into the people planning to harvest it and have some trippy illusions.

The gold dragon emerged from the lake. That doesn't mean he's still there. Say he was treasure-hunting in some sunken ruins.

I like that. I might go with something similar.

Wyvern could be a good choice as a pet to a bigger baddie

Not really, the NPC is kinda reputable which is why the players are quick to investigate.

I can DEFINITELY work this in, too.

I just don't want to deal with metallic dragons in this part of the world.

Illusion produced by a water-dwelling creature that requires victims to approach the shore to kill them or something simple like that.

Eh, I'd just dump initative rolls all together. Dex is strong enough as it is. Have the party go first unless surprised.

I throw in a couple if sacrificial front line monks due to the guaranteed first turn.
Makes combats more, epic, faster, and tactical.

mind flayers, man. the NPC was bait for a lake death cave.

I made up a custom that the elf clan my character comes from has a practice of burying the clan's dead and planting trees over them, or burying them under the roots of existing trees. The places they do this are considered sacred "spirit groves" under the belief that some of the soul of those buried there grows into the tree, and that it's a place where the living can come make their peace or meditate for advice from their ancestors.

It's mostly irrelevant as my character has never gone there seeking visions or anything, but she has given the other members of a party cuts of her hair, with the instruction to bring them back and bury them in her clan's grove, in the event that she dies and they're unable to recover her body.

Just make it a wizard who uses the golden dragon illusion shit as a scam to try to convince people to give him money or something.

>elf assassin who's one step away from betraying everyone, given the chance.
>goliath battlemaster, ex-slave with no class conscience, no empathy, expecting a paycheck for his bounty hunter job that he's probably never gonna get
>yuan-ti slave forge cleric, doing the job so he can keep his family save, as they are being held captive by his owner
>hobgoblin conjurer wizard, the "red man from another land", who's in it to study dem cosmic energies, is very pragmatic and has no time for your fucking drama (me).

We're stuck in a railroad dungeon - ancient "library" - for 4 sessions and still haven't found any books. Wizard's getting angry.

That's pretty much exactly what I'm going with. The NPC found it because he came upon some centaurs uncharacteristically carrying gold / jewels through the woods, dropping it off at a lake, and a gold dragon emerged and took it with him.

Now to flesh out the wizard / con-man who's doing it, and why.

I was planning on a classic "you must collect in order to stop the BBEG" and having one on each continent.

Scooby doo that shit up
>Party discovers it's a wizard
>Find out that there's a dungeon under the lake with "untold riches" or some shit
>wizard is trying to find a way in, dragon money is both intimidation and funds for whatever until then.
Then you can either have the dungeon be a trap for the wizard to try to kill the PCs for discovering the scam or make it an actual dungeon for them to explore alongside the wizard paying them as escorts.

How long does it take to make a cannon, if you only have iron ore? One of my party member want to do it for some weird reason.

>Find out that there's a dungeon under the lake with "untold riches" or some shit

Yeah, one of the reasons I'm avoiding doing a dragon under the lake schtick is because we literally just did something very similar a few sessions back. I might make the edge of the water the edge of an illusion and make it a wizard tower or ziggurat or something. I do like the rest of that though, and am wholesale stealing it.

Crafting stuff is crafted in increments of 50GP worth of work per week IIRC. So find the value of a cannon, divide it by 50, and that's how many weeks it takes to make a cannon. I think.

How big of a cannon are we talking about?

Handheld handgonne type thing? Horse drawn siege type thing? Dardanelles gun tier bombard weighing around 38 thousand pounds?

If we're a Battlemaster and multiclassed into Paladin to get thunderous smite could I theoretically Crit someone with a Greatsword+maneuver+smite to deal 8d6+2d8 damage in a single attack?

I'm thinking of running a Wizard who had a background as a duelist.

What feats/spells/etc would make sense for a spellcaster like that, who was good at 1v1 combat?

I'm starting up a campaign pretty soon at level 3. I figured I'd start as a Half Elf and put my first three levels into Warlock, grabbing Pact of the Tome and the Fiend.
I'm going to take Shillelagh for one of the cantrips so that I can be a Bladelock without being MAD. I figured it would be pretty cool too. I plan on taking the next two levels in Devotion Paladin so that I can get smites and extra CHA damage on my attacks (I'm also considering going up to level 5 so I can get multiattack) I also want the Dueling fighting style that it gives you.
From that point on, I don't know what to get. I also don't know what Invocations to grab from my Warlock levels.
What do you think /5eg/? Did I do a good?

Yes

Can a broom of animated attack from CoS make a dash action with a Barovian Witch riding it? They are the only ones who can ride them and technically they count as a creature so...? Is dash-flying a thing in 5e?

When you have a party of seven PCs and then three NPCs, two of which are at least a few levels higher than all of us (level 4).

You can dash no matter how you're moving - walking, flying, swimming, etc.

Think of dashing as taking the time to actually move more, instead of simply moving quickly.

DMing in 30 minutes and I'm not ready at all lmao

Good luck. Tell us how it goes.

I believe in you user

So I just been asked if I want to try a level 20 game with the idea of "killing gods", unrestricted non-al stuff, UA is allowed.

Part of me doesn't want to, part of the fun is the challenge and progression that comes from lower levels and leveling up and the excitement of getting new powers, etc. Not sure what to do.

If I do go, do I make a mystic and bust it wide open?

Probably a ship cannon?
A Wizard can do it in 10 minutes as always. Every peasant should learn how to magic.

Don't worry, I guarantee your players aren't ready either